A Different Shade of White
by StrawberryShinigami
Summary: With nothing left in Rukongai, Rukia and Renji leave to attend the Shinigami Academy. Rukia plans on joining the Gotei 13, but what she doesn't expect is an orange haired idiot to come crashing into her life. IchiRuki AU
1. A New Start

**Here's my second fanfic (though the other one is still in progress XD) but I had this great idea: What if Ichigo attended the Academy with Rukia? **

**As for the title, I think it just sounds cool, though maybe that's just me! How much relavance it has to the story, well you'll have to figure that out on your own. **

**Anyway... Thanks for reading! Please Enjoy!**

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Rukongai, a place of hardship and struggle where violence was rampant and blood and death was common. It was a resting place for souls, yet a whole new journey of life after death were one would constantly have to watch out for danger. A place of supposed peace, rest, and hope, yet it was rare to see your families from the world of the living. It is place for the dead and yet so many die again.

Rukia placed the ring of flowers on each grave, as she offered her prayers. It was Rukongai and things like this had happened before but … that couldn't stop the heaviness of her heart. She had always feared that this would happen, but she had been too lucky and had foolishly thought that things would stay the same, finally finding a place that she felt she belonged. But, she was wrong.

Rukia stood and turned around to walk to the edge of the ledge where they had buried their friends, no… her family. Renji, the last survivor of her family, like a brother in so many ways, stepped toward the graves to pay his own respects.

Rukia let out a heavy sigh unable to completely convey how she felt; unable to cry. She had grown up surrounded by death and was use to it so no tears would flow. No, tears were a sign of weakness, and now was no time to afford be weak.

"Rukia…" came Renji's voice from behind her, trying to gather his own pent up grief.

She was silent for a moment, thinking, "Renji…"

"Yeah?" was the response.

"Let's become Shinigami." Renji gave his friend a look, trying to figure out what was going on in her mind."

"Let's become Shinigami," Rukia repeated this time more sure of herself. "Then we can live in the Seireitei. They say that life is better there."

Renji thought about what Rukia had just said. If they became Shinigami then life would defiantly better, that is if the made it. Once they became Shinigami then their basic needs would be met unlike here, but there was a lot of risk that came with the job but, then again staying in Rukongai was a pretty risky place itself especially when they lived in District 78. _So I guess no matter where we go it really won't matter. _But, one gave them more of an opportunity.

"Yeah," agreed Renji. Their friends were all gone; there wasn't any reason to stick around here. "Let's become Shinigami."

* * *

It was the first day of classes and the Shinigami Academy was alive with students both old and new. Students littered the front of the huge building, trying to find classes, trying to find dorms, finding friends, goofing off and really anything else that could be seen on the first day of school.

"Uh, Rukia are you sure about this?" Renji felt a little intimidated especially after seeing a bunch of guys walking around with swords at their waists while some others were performing kido spells.

"Oh come on Renji!" Rukia turned toward her friend her hands on her hips, looking serious. "You can't possibly be chickening out now!"

"I'm not chickening out!" yelled Renji, a little too loud, a few people turned to look at him, which immediately made him lower his voice.

"Sure…" said Rukia with a smirk on her face. She knew him way too well for him to try to lie to her.

Renji frowned. Now she was just making fun of him.

"Come on! We passed the entrance exams! Actually, we passed at with high scores. Why wouldn't we belong here?" Renji pointed to a group of pretty big and tough looking students all in their school uniforms and all of them holding swords looking about ready to hurt any unsuspecting newbie.

Rukia sighed, she understood how Renji felt. Growing up in Rukongai made you aware of danger and try to avoid it. But, Rukia was not going to let that happen this time, they weren't in Rukongai anymore. Instead she dragged him to administration office, with him protesting the entire way.

When they reached the office Rukia went up to the desk. (By now she had let go of Renji.) "Umm… excuse us, but we are looking for our schedules." Rukia said to the lady at the desk in her most pleasant voice.

"Oh! Of course dear! Are you new this semester?" Rukia nodded. "What are your names?"

"I'm Rukia and behind me is Renji," replied Rukia.

"Last names?"

"Renji Abarai," answered Renji, finally speaking. The woman reached in her folder to find his schedule and then handed it to him.

"Uh…I…um… I was really young…uh…when–"

"That's all right many who attend the Academy come in without a family name. Many were too young when they died to remember." She gave Rukia an understanding smile.

"But, don't worry, when you graduate you may choose a last name if you wish," said the lady as she handed Rukia her schedule.

Then she addressed both of them. "Well it looks like both of you have been accepted into the advanced classes. Wow! You must have done well on the entrance exams! And I bet you are going to be great Shinigami someday." Rukia gave Renji an I-told-you look which he pretended to ignore.

"Now," said the administrations lady. "Since you are in the more advanced classes, you start today while the regular classes start tomorrow. Since it is the first day, classes don't start until noon, but you need to make sure you're on time. If you're late then you'll be locked out of the class. But, on a lighter note you still have enough time to walk around, get to know the place, and check out your dorms. All the information is on the schedules I just gave you. Now, good luck!"

Rukia and Renji bowed to the helpful woman and said, "Thank you" before heading of the office.

Once they got out side they pulled out their schedules to compare.

"Well," said Rukia quickly looking over the papers. "It looks like we are pretty much in the same classes and looks like our main teacher is a man named Gengoro Ounabara."

"That's a weird name," commented Renji. "So which dorm are you in?" The dorms were separated a lot like Rukongai was. There were four, huge main dorm buildings each labeled North, South, East, and West. The buildings were all coed and completely mixed, though the actual rooms stay same sex.

"I'm in the Southern dorm," said Rukia. "Which looks like it's the farthest one from the classrooms. What about you?"

"I'm in the Northern dorm, on the opposite side of the Academy," answered Renji. "It looks like they really mix everyone up. It's probably so we get to meet new people."

"Yeah…" replied Rukia "Well at least we're in all of the same classes, so we'll still see each other."

"You're right. There's nothing we can really do about that," said Renji.

They spent most of the morning looking around the Academy, finding their classrooms and walking the grounds. They decided to spend the last hour to see their dorm rooms. They decided to split up for that since they were going to opposite sides of the campus.

After spending the first half hour walking to and searching for her dorm room, Rukia finally found hers. It was a relatively small and contained two beds, both unoccupied. It looked like her roommate still hadn't arrived yet.

Rukia threw herself down on the on the bed to the right and looked up at the ceiling letting out a sigh of relief. She had made it. She had passed the exams with high scores which earned her a seat in the advanced classes. Rukia smiled to herself, this was it. Maybe here she could start a new beginning. And with these thoughts in mind she slowly fell asleep.

* * *

When Renji, got to his dormitory, his roommate wasn't there either, but, one of the beds did have a bunch of belongings on it. It looked like they had come and then left. Renji threw his small bag of few belongings and also a bag that contained the uniforms that were distributed to them, onto the bed.

Renji looked at the clock: 11:40. He should probably get to class. He didn't want to be late on the first day, it would be better to get there early. So, he quickly changed into his uniform and left the room.

When Renji entered the room, he saw that it was set up in an auditorium style, with each row being higher than the one in front. In addition, the tables were set up so that two people sat at each desk.

The teacher Gengoro Ounabara was a rather large bald man who had huge glasses and thick, angry eyebrows. Ounabara looked to see the red headed student who had just walked in.

"Who are you?" he stated.

Renji turned toward the professor. "Uh…Renji Abarai…um sir."

"Renji Abarai," repeated Ounabara checking off the name on his list. "You may sit over there next Izuru Kira. He is the one with the blonde hair."

Renji immediately spotted said person and walked over to his new seat. Once he sat down they made their introductions.

"Hi I'm Izuru Kira," greeted Izuru putting out his hand.

Renji took his hand. "Renji Abarai."

After the introductions were made they became quiet and Izuru was returning to what he was doing before, which was evidently looking at some girl at the front of the class.

Renji looked at the girl who had caught his desk partner's attention. She was smaller, probably around Rukia's height and had dark hair that was pulled back into two short pony tails.

"Well, I guess she is pretty, though not really my type," said Renji.

Izuru jumped and turned the color of Renji's hair.

"Do you know her?" asked Renji.

"I…uh…no, not really," said Izuru. "I just saw her come in a few minutes before you did."

"Well why don't you go up to her and at least ask her what her name is?"

"It's not that easy!" he whispered loudly.

Renji smirked at what looked like a new friend. "Well you're going to have to do it sometime if you ever want to ask her out."

Izuru replied with a blush.

* * *

Rukia sat up groggily in bed as she woke up. She then, caught sight of the clock and her eyes went wide. It was eleven fifty which meant that she only had ten minutes to get to class.

Now awake, Rukia shot up and jumped out of bed. She ripped open her bag and pulled out her uniform, threw it on, grabbed her books, and dashed out the door.

As Rukia ran toward the classroom building, she became very thankful that she had always been a fast runner, but she cursed whatever idiot decided to build the Southern Dorm so far away.

She was coming around the back of the school running toward the front at top speed, getting closer as she went. Then as Rukia was rounding the corner towards the front then…CRASH!

Rukia went into a full on collision. She was thrown back on to the ground, books and papers flying everywhere. What idiot wasn't watching where they were going? Now she really was going to be late.

"Watch where you're going!" Rukia yelled looking up to glare at the person who had unceremoniously crashed into her.

When Rukia finally looked up, she got a good look at the person who was going to make her late. He was tall (though most people were taller than her) and dressed in the same uniform that she was now wearing. The most notable characteristic was his hair which was bright orange. On any other day she would have found his hair to be almost comically, but today she as late and getting mad and this boy was going to have to suffer her wrath for making her late.

"Me!?!" shouted the boy now looking up himself to glare at the petite girl with his brown eyes. "What the hell did I do?! You're the one who crashed into me!"

"Are you blaming me?!?" Now dark Rukia was coming out. This guy didn't know who he was dealing with. She stood up just to show him.

"And what if I am you freaking midget!" yelled the boy. He too, stood up, towering over her.

Rukia stared the tall boy down, giving him a cold, deadly stare which made him pull back a little, looking uncertain.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?!" shouted Rukia, sending one of her most powerful kicks directly at his shin.

As she made her mark the boy let out a yell, "What the fuck!?!" Pain was shooting through his leg as he wondered how the hell he was still standing.

"Now," said Rukia a little calmer now that she had released some of that anger, yet her voice was still cool. She picked up her books. "Get out of my way," she finished, pushing by him causing him to fall back onto the ground as she picked up her speed again and raced to class.

* * *

Today was not a good day for Ichigo Kurosaki. First, he had the stupid entrance exams; the examiner took one look at him with his scowl and attitude and immediately put him in the regular classes not even paying attention to the results of his exam. Then, at the administration's office some lady which he found to be way to cheery gave him his schedule and then directed him to where to get his uniform. After that he ran into some students who were looking for trouble. They immediately came after Ichigo, even going for the swords at their belts. Fortunately, Ichigo was a lot faster than they were and even though he didn't know how to use a sword, he was first class when it came to martial arts.

Now, some midget decides to ram into him and then blame the entire thing on him. In fact, he was still on the ground and a little dazed at what had just happened. He would have to say though, his shin was still hurting. Damn it, he better be able to walk.

When Ichigo finally stood up, he still felt pain coming from his leg, but it wasn't as bad as it was before. He grumbled as he picked up his things that were scattered around him and then headed off to find his dorm.

* * *

Rukia ran down the halls, desperately trying to get to her class. The corridor was mostly empty which made her nervous; it meant that the classes would have most likely already started.

She finally spotted the classroom door which she could see was just closing. Rukia tried to speed up but, she was running out of energy. Then as she came up to the door, she saw it shut completely and heard the soft click of the lock. Rukia came to the front of the door and tried to open it.

The door didn't budge. She was breathing heavily trying to catch her breath while glaring at the door in frustration. Damn that stupid orange head! If it wasn't for him then maybe she could have made it to her class!

She sighed. _I guess I might as well wait here. Maybe they'll open the door, _she thought as she slumped against the wall and sank to the floor.

After what seemed like hours the classroom door opened. Rukia immediately stood up, but she was un able to enter because a bunch of students came out. They were all laughing and talking about class with new friends.

Then Rukia spotted Renji coming out. She was about to call out to him was she noticed that he was completely absorbed in a conversation with a blonde hair boy. Rukia was unable to hear what they were saying from where she was, but, she could see that Renji was laughing and smiling and looked like he was having a good time with his new friend.

Rukia's face fell. He hadn't even noticed her. She wasn't _that _short. Rukia watched them walk down the hall. Well at least he wasn't so nervous anymore; it looked like he was actually enjoying himself. She hadn't seen him like this since their friends were alive.

Rukia jumped when she heard a voice address her from behind.

"May I help you?" Rukia turned around to come face to face with who she assumed to be the teacher.

"Um…I-I was supposed to be in this class... um," said Rukia, she suddenly became very nervous.

"Then I presume that you are Rukia. Am I right?" He looked down at Rukia with a hard look.

"Yes, sir."

"Well then Rukia-san," said Ounabara. "Would you answer a question for me?"

"Um…sure." What was going to happen to her now?

"Rukia-san, could you tell me what is a shinigami's job?" questioned Ounabara.

"T-To kill hollows and to help souls get to the Soul Society," answered Rukia. Why was he asking her such a basic question?

"Now, Rukia-san," he continued. "Why must a Shinigami kill Hollows?"

"Uh…To protect other souls." Rukia was getting confused.

"So Rukia-san if you were a Shinigami and you were assigned to kill a hollow what would happen if you were late?"

Rukia tensed up, she knew were this was going now. "The hollow would eat the soul."

"Correct," said Ounabara. "Then you will understand why I will not let you into this class." Rukia looked up at him, her eyes wide. This is what she had feared.

"Now, please leave," the teacher said turning back toward his classroom.

"Wait! Ounabara-san!" Rukia yelled. She immediately shrunk back after she realized what she had said. Ounabara turned back towards her, obviously waiting for her to continue. "…um…what- what I am supposed to do now?"

Ounabara sighed. "Well I would suggest that you go to administration and get a new schedule which will put you in the regular class, maybe something that you could handle. I don't think they mind if you're late to those classes." And with that he turned around and shut the door.

Rukia just stood there for a moment, absorbing all that he had just told her. Then she hung her head in shame and disappointment as she turned around and slowly walked away.

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**Okay. So what do you think about it so far? Please Review. Tell me what you think (positive reviews are prefered!)**

**Also, if you have any suggestions, just let me know, because though I did have an good idea of what I'm going to do, there are some places that I have some flexibility.**

**A/N: The whole thing with the last names. We all know Rukia isn't part of the Kuchiki Family yet, but with Renji lets just say the only thing he remembers about his previous life was his name, I didn't want too many people only using their given names, so it will probably just be Rukia who is like that.**

**Thanks for reading! **

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	2. Stuck With You

**I hope you like the story so far, here's chapter 2.**

**And I think I forgot to put in the disclaimer for the last chapter so this one is for both Chapters 1 & 2.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

**Enjoy!**

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Rukia walked slowly down the hall, wondering if things could get any worse. She felt so ashamed. She had made it all this way only to kicked out of class on the very first day. She dreaded what she would have to say to Renji later. Thinking of Renji only made her feel worse; he hadn't even looked at her. Did he even wonder where she was? Rukia let out a depressed sigh as she slowly opened the door to the administration office.

The administration lady looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled when she recognized who her guest was.

"Hello, Rukia! How was your first day?"

Rukia grumbled to herself. This lady was way too happy for her own good. Really! Did she look like she had a good day?

"I didn't make the class," mumbled Rukia.

"What did you say?" as the cheery woman.

"Ounabara-san kicked me out of the class for being late," she said a little bit louder.

"Oh!" gasped the lady finally getting what was going on. "I'm so sorry! I should have warned you, Ounabara-san is one of our strictest teachers."

"No, it's really just my fault," said Rukia miserably. "Uh…Do you have a new schedule for me?"

"For the regular class?"

How many other classes were there? "Yes."

She reached into her desk and pulled out new schedule for Rukia and handed to her.

"Dear, I wouldn't be too miserable if I were you. Don't worry. Just because you're in the other class doesn't mean you won't become a Shinigami," she said giving a comforting smile.

Rukia didn't answer. She just gave the woman a pained and very forced smile as she took her new schedule and walked out the door.

When Rukia finally reached her dorm again, she quickly put all her things away (which were few) and sat down on her bed. She just sat there for a second just trying to calm herself down. She would still become a Shinigami, so she was staying. She would show that teacher how wrong he was. No! She wouldn't even think about him, he was of no concern to her, she would just have to learn from someone else, from….she looked down at her schedule to see the name of her teacher. It was someone named Ochi-san.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened to reveal a small girl who looked about her own size with dark hair pulled back into two short pony tails.

"Hello!" greeted the newcomer. "I guess I'm your new roommate." As she said this she dumped all of her things on to her bed and then walked over to Rukia with a sweet smile.

"I'm Momo Hiniamori," she said. "You can just call me Momo! You don't have to worry about suffixes either!"

Rukia returned the smile. _I think I'm really going to like my new roommate._ "My name is Rukia."

"Nice to me you Rukia!" she said giving her a huge. Rukia was a little taken aback by her boldness, but she found that she didn't it, coming from this friendly girl.

"It's nice to meet you too," replied Rukia as Momo broke away to return to her side of the room to start unpacking.

"So," began Momo. "What class are you in?"

For some reason –maybe it was the good mood that Momo had brought to the room- she didn't feel quite as bad about that topic as she only minutes before. "I'm in the regular classes. What about you?"

"I'm in the advanced classes, but I don't know why!" the girl looked frantic, in an amusing sort of way. "I don't think I'm going to last too long, but it's worth a shot!" She had a little bit of determination at the end there.

Rukia laughed lightly, this girl's behavior was really very funny. Or maybe she had just nervous about it being the first day of school.

Rukia and Momo talked late into the night. Momo was going around talking about how nervous she had been that day and how she didn't think she would make it the whole way through. Momo had need afraid she might trip over a watermelon and sprain her leg while trying to get to her afternoon class while carrying her heaviest books! Rukia just sat and laughed at the girl's ridiculous, yet funny worries. They finally went to sleep when Rukia said she needed to go to sleep because she had her first class tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning.

The next morning, Rukia woke up still a little tried. She slowly got out of bed and stretched as see looked over to the clock. She froze. The clock read 7:45. She groaned. _Not Again!_ She thought as she dashed to the get changed.

* * *

Rukia ran across the grounds, sprinting towards the classrooms. Talk about Déjà-vu. The only thing that would make this compete would be if that orange head showed up. As she rounded the corner to get to the front, she prayed she wouldn't crash into anyone this time.

She made it around the corner and ran towards the door. Rukia didn't have any way of telling time, but she could tell it was getting close because there were a bunch of others that seemed to be in her same position.

As she sped up Rukia raced past classrooms and finally came to the correct hall way with what looked like a little bit of time to spare.

"You know, you're going to kill someone someday if you keep up this running habit of your," came a voice to the right of her.

Rukia turned her head to find the orange hair boy from yesterday running up alongside her. She was surprised, but she also started getting angry again remembering what happened the day before.

"Why?" she answered. "Do you want to die? I can arrange that if you want."

"What the hell is your problem?" he said, his voice climbing a bit.

"_You_ made me late yesterday! Not to mention you also crashed right into me!" yelled Rukia, not really caring who heard their conversation.

"Well it's not like I'm the one who made you late today!"

"Yeah, and it doesn't look like I'm the only one late," said Rukia with a smirk.

"Shut up _midget_! Its way too early in the morning for any sane person to be up!" he said trying to defend himself.

"What did you call me!" yelled Rukia. Unfortunately for the boy they had arrived at the classroom causing them to stop, making it easy for Rukia to deliver a nice punch into his stomach. Then she turned around and walked into the classroom. Leaving her parting words to the boy who was now doubled over in pain, "You should have learned you lesson yesterday."

* * *

"Welcome!" greeted the teacher as her last two remaining students came into the room. "What are your names?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki," answered Ichigo with his regular scowl on his face.

"I'm Rukia," said the raven haired girl with a smile and a face that said I-am-so-innocent-and-perfect.

Ichigo glanced down at the girl. _Did she really think she could pull off that act? _But, the rest of the class didn't really seem to notice, in fact, Ichigo saw that they watched the girl with interest, especially those of the male gender.

"Welcome Ichigo and Rukia!" said the teacher. She didn't seem to care if they were a little bit late. "Now you two can go over and sit at the table over there towards the back by the window."

_I have to sit next to him?!_ Thought Rukia

_They had better change seats soon. _Thought Ichigo.

They walked to the table where Ichigo claimed the window seat. Rukia gave him a small glare that went unnoticed by the rest of the class. But, Ichigo refused to move and unless she wanted to make a scene she was forced to sit in the seat next to the aisle.

"Now that we're all here let's go over a few things. First…" Ichigo stopped paying attention and drew his gaze toward the window. _I can't believe I had to wake up just for this. _He sighed; it was going to be a day.

Board, Ichigo turned to see what the raven head next to him was doing. Unexpectedly, she wasn't paying attention either. _I guess she found this to be pointless too. _(Actually there were only a few student left who were actually still paying attention.) Rukia had taken out her sketch book and was drawing, but what it was, Ichigo had absolutely no idea.

Rukia, feeling his gaze on her paper, turned to face him. "What do you want?" she said quietly enough so that Ichigo could easily hear her, but no one else could.

"What the hell are you drawing?"

"Are you really that dumb? Obviously it's a rabbit."

"A _rabbit?_" repeated Ichigo disbelievingly. "You could have fooled me."

"You just know true art when you see it!" Rukia was starting to heat up again.

"No," said Ichigo. "I think I know the difference between the drawings of a professional and a five year old."

Rukia didn't say anything; instead Ichigo once again felt her foot come into contact with his leg.

"Oww!" said Ichigo a little too loudly.

"Is there something wrong Kurosaki-san?" came Ochi-san's voice from the front.

"No," lied Ichigo sending a death glare in the direction of the raven haired girl who was now laughing at him from behind her hand, her violet eyes dancing.

"Well, either way I suggest that everyone start paying attention now because the next information is important," said Ochi-san to the class. Everyone immediately came out from their dream world in order to pay attention.

"Now," continued the teacher when she was sure she had everyone's attention. "While you attend the Academy, you will be partnered up with someone from this class and for the rest of your classes as well. This will help you learn and improve and they will be your partner for you preliminary assignments in the world of the living while you are still in school. It will also help you with the skills you need when working with other people as you will do when you become a Shinigami. " She paused a second, waiting for the information to sink in.

"Who will be our partners, Ochi-san?" said one of the students.

"Hold on I was just getting to that!"

Ichigo and Rukia were pretty much thinking the same thing, _I don't care who I'm with as long as it's not-_

But, Ochi-san cut off their thoughts. "Alright everyone! I want each of you to look at the person sitting next to you. They will be your partner at the Shinigami Academy."

Ichigo and Rukia turned to look at each other; their eyes open wide in shock. Their faces were both saying the same thing:

_What?!?!?_

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**I would like to thank CharmedNightSkye for reviewing chapter 1 and if any one has any comments, suggestions, ect. please just drop me a quick review I would like to know what you think of the story so far.**

**A/N: 1. I have been trying to keep the characters from being too OOC and I think I might have had some in this chapter, especially with Momo, but for this chapter I wanted her to lighten up the mood a bit and so I made he over friendly, but I'll try to draw her back in later chapters.**

**2. The thing with the partner thing, I don't know what you guys will think of that, but I wanted to force them together some how and I needed them to be working togther some how for future events. **

**Thanks for reading! Please Review!**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	3. Old Friends and New

**Here's Chapter 3! Hope you like it.**

**I'm sorry it the writing seems a little rough, but I really wanted to put up the next chapter and I probably didn't edit as much as I should have.**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach._**

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"What the hell is your problem!?!"

"My problem?!? "

"You're the one who can't do anything right!"

"Oh like you can do everything!"

"At least I have some sort of control over my spiritual pressure!"

"I can control it!"

"Almost blowing my arm off is not what I would call control!" Rukia was furious. That idiot had almost killed her. It had already been a month and he still couldn't control his spiritual pressure.

Rukia glared at her so-called partner. She then raised her hand and pointed her finger at him and yelled, "BINDING SPELL, NUMBER ONE! SAI!"

At her words, Ichigo's arms were immediately forced into a bind behind his back. Taken by surprise Ichigo lost balance and fell forward onto the hard floor.

_Damn it! _

Rukia then pulled out a marker from her bag andtoward his fallen form with an evil smirk on her face. When she reached him she leaned down and drew a mustache on his face.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!?!"

"I was just getting some pay back," Rukia replied, laughing as he desperately tried to get out of his rather difficult situation. Plus, he looked absolutely ridiculous with the drawn mustache on his face. "To bad you don't have enough _control _over your spiritual pressure to get yourself out of this little predicament."

Ichigo was about to make some sort of retort but was cut off by the sensei. "All right everyone! I think we've worked enough with kido for today."

As he watched everyone sort of shuffle around, he noticed that one group was not doing anything. He sighed. Those two were at it again. Did they ever stop? Really! This had to be the tenth time this week. And it was only Wednesday! "Hey! Rukia! Get him out of that spell and switch over to the next activity!"

Rukia looked up at the sensei and put on her best acting face. "Oh I'm so sorry sensei, but I don't know how to do the counter spell!"

"Bitch," muttered Ichigo, loudly enough for her to hear.

"Watch the profanity Kurosaki." Evidently the sensei had heard him too. He gave another sigh as he quickly undid the binding spell. _These two are ridiculous. _"Oh, and you might want to wash the mustache off too."

Ichigo grumbled as he headed off to wash off his face. Rukia watched him go with the smirk back on her face, admiring her handy work.

"Okay," said the sensei as Ichigo came back. "Now that we are _finally_ ready, let's move on to some hand-to-hand combat."

Rukia groaned as they got into their stances. Even though they had been fighting like cats and dogs for the past month they had gotten to know each other on some circumstances. Mainly it was that she was really good at kido while it was Ichigo who was good at Martial Arts.

Ichigo smirked. He could tell exactly what she was thinking by the look on her face. She wouldn't be winning this time. But, inwardly he frowned. _It's not like can just hit her! She is a girl after all! Even though she doesn't act like it. _

As they started, Rukia immediately became frustrated. _Even though I keep throwing hits and punches all he does is block! He won't try to actually strike me. _

"Are you really so weak that you can only block Kurosaki?" Rukia taunted trying to hide her frustration.

Ichigo growled. She really knew how to get on his nerves.

"No," he replied, trying to keep calm. "I just thought it was rude to hit a girl, especially one that could pass off as a kid. "

"Ugh!" grunted Ichigo as Rukia landed a blow to his stomach, forcing to double over.

Ichigo looked up to see a very angry Rukia glaring down at him with her deadly gaze that he had come very well acquainted with in the past month.

"Care to repeat that _Strawberry_?"

"Sure, _midget._"

"Carrot top!"

"Shorty!"

"Can all you do is mock my height?!?"

"No, you stupid bunny lover!"

"There is nothing wrong with bunnies!"

"Yeah, but there is defiantly something wrong with your perception of art!"

"Bastard!"

"Ass-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" yelled the sensei form the other side of the room. These two were now getting really aggravating. "ALRIGHT EVERYONE! We will now move on to the next thing. Everyone, get your swords and start working on your form."

The sensei watched as the Rukia and Ichigo went to go get their sword and then face each other and get in their stances. When he blew the whistle they charged at each other. When it came to swords they were both pretty much equal so they felt that there was no reason to hold back.

"Hmm," the sensei said as he watched their swords clash together. "Maybe I should have had them use the wooden swords..."

* * *

Momo looked up from her work when her roommate entered the room, slamming the door behind her. Rukia looked furious as she stormed across the room throwing her bag on the ground.

"Did Kurosaki get on your nerves again today?" asked Momo who was all too familiar with what caused Rukia to come home every night in a very bad mood.

"That would be an understatement," replied Rukia as she sat on her bed.

"What did he do this time?"

"That idiot can't do anything!" Rukia decided to just let out all of her anger. "He can't control, his spiritual pressure, he almost blew my arm off today when we – or more accurately I – were practicing kido. And since we're unfortunately partnered together we are supposed to be doing outside training as well, but I can hardly stand him as it is! Not to mention that we get into these huge fights, insulting each other every second!"

"Well, since you two obviously dislike each other, why don't you ask for a switch?" suggested Momo.

"Don't you think I already tried that?"

"Well, I don't really know what else to say Rukia, except that maybe you should try to get along with him," Momo braced herself.

"GET ALONG WITH HIM! WITH THAT ASSHOLE! ARE YOU INSANE? That's not possible!"

"Rukia, he can't really be that bad. I mean, I'm sure that you get on his nerves to."

"He started it!"

"Uhh…Rukia…I don't want to sound mean, but you really sound like a five year old right now."

Rukia looked at her friend and immediately felt bad. It wasn't her she was angry with. She let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Momo, I didn't mean to get so upset, it's just he-"

"Don't worry Rukia! I know. I understand. I didn't take any offense." Rukia looked up at her to see same happy and bubbly Momo that she had become friends with.

"Thanks Momo."

* * *

Another month passed and Rukia thought she was going to go insane. As she walked down the halls of the school she thought to herself. _Did I really make the right decision to come here? So far things have been going pretty bad. Maybe I should just quit._

Then suddenly, her thought s were interrupted when she heard someone call her name.

"Hey Rukia!" Rukia turned around to see Renji coming up to her with a group of students behind him. She never thought she would be so happy to see him. She hadn't seen her childhood friend since the first day.

"Renji!"

Renji looked down at her. What was she doing just walking around? "What are you standing out here for?" asked the red head. "It's been two months already! Haven't you gotten with the program yet?"

Rukia frowned at her friend. Who was he to say that she hadn't been doing anything for the past two months? "What! Well, what about you?"

That's when Rukia noticed the group of boys standing behind him. _Well it looks like he's made some friends, unlike me…_

The blonde boy seemed to notice her gaze and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Izuru Kira. I'm roommates with Renji and we're both in the same class, actually we're partners," he said extending out his hand.

Rukia put on a forced smile and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Rukia."

After she broke from the hand shake, she noticed that the group had a lot of things with them and asked. "…You're carrying a lot of bags. Is there a training exercise today?"

"Yeah," said Renji who seemed please that she had asked. "We're taking a field trip to the world of the living. We're going to perform konso!"

Rukia just looked at them, trying to prevent the disappointment that was threatening to appear on her face. "What? That's not fair!" said Rukia, trying to change her attitude.

"Of course it's fair!" argued Renji. "We're the elite!" Rukia felt anger stir inside of her at his arrogance.

The group started walking away toward their destination while Renji called over his shoulder, "We'll be way ahead of you when we get back! See ya!"

"Oh yeah?" retorted Rukia. "I'm the one who will be….ahead." But he was already too far away to hear her.

As they disappeared around the corner, Rukia watched them with a heavy heart. She thought she would have been happier after seeing Renji after all of this time. He was her friend. They had known each other for a long time and had gone through so many things together. She had thought that they would go through this together too.

She sighed. _I don't think I should be here anymore._

* * *

As they rounded the corner and were safely out of ear shot, Izuru smiled and looked over at Renji. "So that was Rukia, the girl that you've had a crush on since you were kids in Rukongai?"

Renji turned to look at his friend and glared at him, regretting that he had revealed that private information to him.

Izuru laughed when he saw his friend's face. "If you've known her for so long then why don't you ask her out already?"

"It's not that easy. She really isn't that type of girl."

"Yeah but still-"

"How about this," said Renji cutting him off. "I'll ask Rukia out after you do the same to Momo."

Izuru was quiet after that last comment.

* * *

Rukia was depressed as she walked down the corridor, seriously debating whether or not she should leave. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she wasn't paying any attention to where she was going. Instead she aimlessly walked around trying to come up with some sort of decision.

As Ichigo was walking back to his dorm he noticed Rukia coming his way. He was confused. Why was she down here? It's not like they had a class or anything. As she got closer he noticed that her head was down and she seemed to be in deep thought.

"Rukia?" he said not sure what was going on.

When she looked up to see him, Ichigo could also tell that she was in a bad mood and defensively brought his hands out in front of him, waiting for her to deliver a blow.

When nothing came, Ichigo slowly looked out from behind his hands and after making sure it was safe, he lowered his hands.

Rukia was back to looking at the ground. Ichigo was surprised that she hadn't done anything to him yet. Usually by now, she would have given him a good punch to the stomach or a swift kick to his shins, depending on the mood she was in. But, this time she didn't do anything. And for some unexplainable reason, it bothered him.

Rukia was vaguely aware of Ichigo's confusion and answered him. "Don't worry Kurosaki; it's not you that I mad at right now."

Ichigo didn't respond. He was too confused. Why the hell was she acting like this? This was Rukia! She was not a person to get so….depressed. _Wait a minute! Why the hell would I care!_

"I'm quitting," said Rukia suddenly. Ichigo jumped at that did that come from?

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm leaving," she repeated. "Actually this works out for you, you won't have to deal with me anymore."

As she said this she finally looked up and Ichigo was taken aback with what he saw. He looked into her deep violet eyes and saw pain. He also recognized something else…loneliness?

"I'm still confused as to why you're leaving," said Ichigo slowly. "Are you sure it doesn't have to do with me?"

"Well… you might have been part of it," said Rukia honestly. "But, there was someone else too…"

"Why are you letting this get to you so much?" said Ichigo.

Rukia looked up at him confused. He almost sounded concerned. "Why the hell would you care?"

"What? Well…that's not really it…I mean," said Ichigo trying to get his thoughts together. "It's more like I don't understand why one of the toughest girls I know is quitting. It just doesn't really make sense, because it seems to me like you were born to be a Shinigami."

Rukia stared up at him, shocked from getting a complement from him. "I-I'm really not that strong," she said.

"Are freaking kidding me! Coming from the girl who kicks my ass everyday!" Rukia had to give a small smile to that.

Ichigo looked at her and could tell that she still didn't really believe him and besides that she still looked pretty down. He frowned until he suddenly came up with an idea. "Come with me." And with that grabbed her by the wrist and started running down the hall.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR ARE DOING!" yelled Rukia as she was forcibly dragged down the hall. When Ichigo didn't answer she shouted again. "Would you at least stop dragging me! You're legs are to freaking long! I can't run as fast as you!"

Luckily for Rukia, the trip was short and Ichigo finally stopped. Rukia looked up at the door. "Why are we at the training room?" she asked.

"Because," said Ichigo as he walked inside, pulling her in behind him. "I want to show you that you're wrong about your decision in leaving."

Rukia just looked at him as he went over to cabinet and picked out two swords. He had to be the strangest person she had ever met. She had known him for two months and he had been the biggest bastard in the world and now he was suddenly being nice to her? It almost sounded as if he wanted her to stay. _What the hell am I thinking? There is no way that's possible! _

"Here," said Ichigo as he threw her a sword. "Now I know you said that I was only part of the problem, but I'm sure you would have no complaints to taking your anger out on me. Also you can use kido if you want too."

Rukia stared at him holding the sword. "What is the point of this?"

"Well, like I said you can take out some of that pent up anger and hopefully if all goes well, it will take your mind off of whatever is bothering too."

Rukia smirked. "Well…I still don't think I really get it, but if you're letting me fight you up for free than I guess I should take advantage of the situation."

"If that's how you want to look at, then sure."

And with that, they began. As the fight progressed Rukia found out that what Ichigo had said was coming true. She found that she was thinking less about what had happened to her and was more focused on her current fight. Rukia was also surprised that she was actually enjoying this. _Maybe he was right, I do feel as if holding a sword and using it to fight was something that I was born to do._

Rukia finished off their duel by blasting kido right at him. Ichigo, in order to save himself from getting permanently damaged, held up his sword, which shattered on impact. Rukia then took her own sword and placed its point on his chest.

Ichigo smirked at her. "Looks like I was right."

Rukia gave him a small glare. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right. "I never said I was going to stay." Ichigo looked at her disbelievingly.

"But," she said. "Maybe I'll considerate it if we actually train together more outside of the regular classes like we're supposed to. That way maybe I'll actually get strong, as you say I am. Besides I doubt that anyone else would be able to deal with you."

"Fine then," said Ichigo as she put away her sword. "It's a deal. But, umm… can I just ask you a question?"

"What's the question?" She supposed that it was fair for him to ask.

"Well… would you mind me asking who made you so upset?" Ichigo was unsure whether or not she would actually be willing to answer his question.

"It was a…friend of mine, his name is Renji," said Rukia hesitantly. Why did he care? "We had known each other since we were kids. We grew up in Rukongai and we came to the Shinigami Academy together. I had thought that we would still be close here, but that really didn't happen…"

"Renji?" repeated Ichigo. "You mean that weird pineapple head?"

Pineapple head? What was he talkin- ohhh… Rukia couldn't help herself; she had to laugh at that.

Ichigo watched her laugh, confused. "Pineapple head!" more laughing. "That name really does fit him." Laughing again. _Wow! When was the last time I had laughed?_ thought Rukia.

When she had finally calmed down Ichigo asked, "So is he still your friend now?"

Rukia's face instantly became more serious and Ichigo regretted asking his second question. "I don't know," answered Rukia. "I really don't know…"

Guessing that the conversation was over, Rukia turned to leave until she was stopped when Ichigo suddenly spoke. "Wait! Rukia!"

Rukia turned to face the orange head. "Yeah?"

"Look…um… I just wanted to say sorry," he said. "I'm sorry for acting like a jerk for the past couple of months. And I really do think that you should stay."

Rukia stared at him, surprised by his sudden apology. He was actually sorry for what he had done? … Maybe she had judged him a little too harshly these past couple of months. After all, it was half her fault too.

Rukia turned back around and started walking back to the door. But right before she left, she turned looked over her shoulder and said, "Thanks. Thanks Kuro- I mean- Thanks Ichigo."

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**So...What did you think? This was a pretty important chapter, which is why it took longer for me to update. **

**A/N: 1.****. Do you think I'm taking the story too fast? I didn't want to drag it out too long either, because I have other plans for the story too.**

**2. Also, I would just like you to take note that from here on the time thing in the Soul Socitey is going to get a little weird and won't completly match-up. They really aren't going to be in school for years and years. I don't want to bore you.**

**3. Oh and I think Rukia may have been a little OOC in this chapter. **

**I would also like to thank tah25 and TwilightAmethyst for reviewing!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	4. Strengths and Weaknesses

**sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry For not updating in awhile, life has been a little crazy lately. **

**So chapter 4. Okay, so its probably not the best, but I needed a connecting chapter, so hang in there people!**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this...okay I probably own a couple of random characters like the receptionist in ch. 1 & 2 and the sensei from this and the previos chapter, who if you haven't noticed does not have a name and will probably never have one._**

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"Than even more hollows appeared and all of them were huge! Even our instructor, Hisagi, had never seen a hollow so big! Luckily, Aizen-taicho and Ichimaru-fukutaicho showed up and took care of them. They were amazing!" Momo enthusiastically told her story to Rukia about the events that occurred during the upper class's trip to the world of the living.

Rukia's eyes were wide in amazement at her roommate's story. "That really happened during a simple konso practice?"

"Yup," There was pride in her voice at Rukia's amazement.

"Wow," said Rukia. "I think our class will be going to the world of the living soon. I hope something like that doesn't happen again! Two students died!"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Momo said. "Something on that scale is very rare, if not it's never happened before, though it isn't unheard of for a normal hollow to attack during a konso practice. Actually, it's almost expected with all of that spiritual pressure concentrated in one place."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Besides, I'm sure you'd be able to handle it. Weren't you just telling me that things really going better for you now?"

"Yeah, they are," said Rukia, her face brightening a little. "Ichigo is a lot more tolerable now and we have been doing a better lately and I think both of us have stronger in the past week."

"Well, it's good to see that you aren't fighting anymore."

"Are you kidding me?! We still get into fights everyday!" said Rukia in an aggravated voice. "Though it is a lot better than it was before."

"I guess that's something. But, you know… if you keep up the progress," said Momo suggestively. "…He is really cute."

"Momo don't even go there," her face set into a frown.

"Come on! I'm just stating a fact," said Momo trying to defend herself.

"Well, then I guess I could agree with that fact," She quickly continued before Momo could respond. "But, he's always frowning and always looks like he's angry with the world."

"Well, everyone has there reasons," Momo shrugged.

"Whatever," replied Rukia, getting tried of the conversation. "I'm going to bed. Isn't there some guests coming in tomorrow?"

"Yeah," confirmed Momo. "I think a couple of the captains are coming in to work with us."

"Really? Captains?" Rukia was very surprised at this news. There class had not been told the reason for the class tomorrow.

"Yeah they are supposed to come in every so often to help us out a little bit and to also see the people who might be candidates for their own companies when graduation comes around."

"I guess that makes sense."

"I hope Aizen-taicho is one of the ones coming tomorrow!" said Momo. She looked excited at just the thought of it.

"Well, we will find out tomorrow, but for now we should probably get some rest."

Momo just nodded her head in acknowledgement. She was still thinking about the captain that had impressed her the other day.

* * *

"I want everyone's attention!" yelled the sensei. "Today we are going to add something to our regular practice and a very important guest with us today. Our guest is a captain class shinigami and will be working with each pair to see how you are doing and give you some pointers."

"Quiet down!" shouted the sensei when he heard a murmur travel through the group. When it finally got quiet, again he introduced the captain. "I would like you to welcome, Ukitake-taicho."

All of the students turned toward the door to see a man enter the room. He was wearing the traditional black shinigami uniform and over it, wore one of the long, white coats that only the captains could wear. On his back was the number thirteen, partially covered by his long white hair. His face was kind and almost fatherly while he wore his zanpaku-to at his hip.

"Now," said the teacher. "All of you will start off practicing with your partners like you usually do and the Ukitake-taicho will come around to all of the groups. Now begin!"

Rukia and Ichigo squared off, taking out there zanpaku-tos. They charged at each other both determined as their swords clashed. Both were forced back from the power delivered to the blow. Their blades met again, movements fast, both looking for an opening. Rukia swung at Ichigo, who quickly stepped back to avoid her blade. Then taking his chance, he stepped in bringing his blade across forcing her to be thrown back. When Rukia regained her footing, she immediately started chanting.

"Hado 4, Byakurai!" Rukia shouted, pointing directly at Ichigo as lightning shot from her finger. Ichigo's eyes went wide as the kido sped toward him, his mind racing.

Before the impact came, a figure wearing a bright white coat stepped in front of him, cutting away the kido.

"That was some very good kido," said Ukitake as he stepped into the battle. Rukia blushed at the complement from the captain. "Though I think your partner here is very glad that came in."

"I could have handled it," said Ichigo stubbornly. Rukia smirked at him disbelievingly; Ichigo glared at her.

Ukitake chuckled as he turned to face the boy. He took in a sharp breath as his eyes went wide. Standing in front of him was a boy who looked so much like-

"Um…Is there something wrong Ukitake-taicho?" questioned Ichigo seeing the odd look on the captain's face. Rukia, who had just come up along side them, also looked at Ukitake in wonder.

"Oh…uh...sorry about that," said Ukitake coming out of his daze and giving the two a friendly smile. "You just look a lot like some one I know. Now shall we get to business?"

Ichigo and Rukia exchanged a look in confusion, but after silently deciding that it wasn't really important they turned to the captain, giving him their attention.

"Alright now," said Ukitake in a cheery voice. "I was watching you two for a while and both of look very skilled for your level and look like you're doing good. So, what I want you to do now is for you both to attack me and I want to see if you can try to get a hit."

"What?" said Rukia disbelievingly. "Fight against you?"

"Oh, don't worry…um…"

"Rukia," she supplied.

"Don't worry Rukia I'm not even going to use my shikai."

"Shikai?" asked Ichigo.

"A zanpaku-to's first release," answered the captain. "Something that you will eventually be able to do. Now, let's see what you've got."

Ichigo and Rukia held out there zanpaku-to in front of them, hesitating. Across from them Ukitake-taicho just smiled waiting for them to make a move. Finally, Ichigo was fed up with waiting and started running toward the captain. As he came close, Ichigo brought the sword up above his head and brought it down on his opponent. Seeing Ichigo come at him, Ukitake reached up and caught the incoming blade with his hand. Both Ichigo and Rukia stared; he had not even drawn blood.

Ichigo's scowl deepened as he tried to pull back the sword, with no such luck. Frustrated, Ichigo tried pulling the sword closer to himself, pulling it lower this time. This movement caused the captains arms to come further away from his body opening up the area. Ichigo took this opportunity to, swing his body around and aim a kick right toward his midsection. However, as soon as it was about to land, Ukitake-taicho's other hand came up to catch the boy's leg.

Now Ichigo was completely off balance. Now it was Ukitake's turn to raise his hand and point it directly at him. Ichigo knew what was coming, he had seen Rukia do the same thing to him countless of times.

"Bakudo 1, Sai," he said calmly as Ichigo was once again face down on the ground with his hands bound behind his back.

While Ukitake-taicho was preoccupied with Ichigo, Rukia had begun chanting a kido spell of her own. "_Ruler…The mask of blood and flesh, all things of the universe fly, that which names all! Gathering of heat and war, beyond the seas in reverse, take steps to the south. _Hado 31, Shakkaho!" yelled Rukia.

Ukitake was surprised to see a fire blast coming straight toward him. _A Hado of the 31__st__ level? This girl is very skilled. Why isn't she in the upper class? _thought Ukitake as he shunpoed out of the way.

Rukia was surprised when he suddenly vanished. "Are you looking for someone?" came a voice from behind her. Rukia turned around to find Ukitake sending the same kido he had used on Ichigo take her and force her to the ground with her hands behind her back.

"Hmm…I wasn't expecting kido of that level, but then I guess you probably weren't expecting speed of that level," said the captain of the thirteenth company. "But, I am impressed you did very-"

He was cut off when he felt a sudden increase in spiritual pressure. Ukitake turned to see Ichigo now standing trying to pull his arms apart, his spiritual pressure rapidly increasing. Rukia watched him in shock.

_What does that idiot think he's doing?! He's going to seriously hurt himself!_

Ukitake seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" He ran toward him, growing frantic. "Stop! You'll never be able to-"

But, the captain was unable to continue because at that moment, with a yell, Ichigo broke free of his bindings, with no injuries, and with his spiritual pressure pulsing around him.

Ichigo gave a cocky smirk and picked up his sword pointing toward Ukitake. "It's not over yet."

Ukitake-taicho stared at him in disbelief. _He should not have been able to do that! And were did all of that spiritual pressure come from? Some shinigami in my division don't have that much!_ Then he looked over at Rukia who was chanting the release spell. _And there are a lot shinigami who wouldn't be able to perform a Hado 31 (the eleventh division barely knows any kido). What are they doing in this class? _Ukitake looked at the two before letting out a sigh and shook his head; there was a light smile playing on his lips.

"Okay," he said. "We can stop now." Ichigo grudgingly lowered his sword as Rukia made her way over to the other two. "Both of you did very well, though you both obviously have your strengths and weaknesses." He turned to Ichigo. "You defiantly need to work on kido, while Rukia," he turned to the addressed girl. "You need to work on hakuda. And I suggest to both of you to keep working in general on everything, especially with your zanpaku-to which are the main power of a shinigami."

Ichigo grumbled. "Why should I learn kido, since I obviously suck at it?"

"Kido can always come in handy, especially the healing aspect of it."

"I think I can survive a few cuts."

Ukitake laughed to himself at the boy's arrogance. "But, what if your partner was seriously injured?"

"I could take care of myself," said Rukia stubbornly. She was surprisingly outspoken in front of the captain. "I don't need that idiot's help."

"Just like wouldn't need your help midget!" replied Ichigo angrily.

"You wouldn't last a second without me Strawberry!" Tempers started flaring.

"You-"

"Okay, Stop it now there is no need for you to argue!" Ukitake had a feeling that this was a pretty common thing, though he had heard that this particular pair was better than it was before. He could only image what it had been like at the beginning. "This is one of your problems!"

Ichigo and Rukia looked up at the captain in shame; it was embarrassing being scolded by the captain at their first meeting. Then Ukitake's face became a little calmer as he paused and coughed into his arm. "Look. Another thing that you two really need to work on is teamwork. There is a reason that you were put into these groups and in the future you two will be forced to work together and instead of hurting each other, you need to help each other, especially with your skills. Both of you have a lot of potential, but you can turn that potential into product and become great shinigami."

Ichigo and Rukia looked at him and then gave each other a quick glance at each other before Rukia answered, "Alright Ukitake-taicho. We'll try."

"Ichigo," he said questioningly to the boy.

"Yeah, we'll do better."

"Good. Now I leave you to your regular training." And with that, he turned around and left.

Rukia then turned around to face her partner. "Well are you ready?" She lifted her zanpaku-to and pointed at him.

"You know I'm always ready," said Ichigo as he lifted his own zanpaku-to. "Though I don't see why you bother if you know I'm going to win."

"Then why do you always argue with me, if you know I'm always going to win?" she said smugly.

"A kick to the shins does not count as winning!" argued Ichigo.

"Well it does make you stop. I would call that winning." And with that she added a nice kick to his already bruised shins to prove her point. Ichigo glared at her as she smirked. It looks like she had won again.

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**Alright, So what did you think? Please let me know and REVIEW!!!**

**A/N: I know in this chapter they kind of acted a too... outspoken?....in front of a captain, they probably hould have been more aware (though I doubt Ichigo would care)**

**Much thanks to ninjapirate6, SplitToInfinity, Vi-Violence, and Blacksword Zero for reviewing chapter 3! You Guys Are Awesome!**

**Until next time**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	5. World of the Living

**Wow! Chapter 4 got 6 reviews! Thank you so much: J'anime Manga, SplitToInfinity, shell, Angelyn, Blacksword Zero, & ninjapirate6**

**I was so happy with the reviews that I just had to update. So hear is chapter 5! Enjoy!**

**_Disclaimer: Does Anyone actually read these things? Anyway...I don't own Bleach._**

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"Ichigo! Wake up!" Rukia yelled as see pounded on the door. When nothing happened, she shouted again. "Come on! We're going to be late!" Finding that her efforts were not doing any good, Rukia got fed up and slammed open the door herself.

When she entered the room, Rukia stormed over to the bed on the left, where the orange haired teen was sleeping. "Ichigo!" she yelled again.

Rukia received an annoyed grumble in response. "Ichigo we're going to be late!"

"What the hell Rukia?" He turned his head to consult his clock. "What?!?! It's six thirty in the morning!"

"I'm glad you've finally realized that it's morning. Now get up!"

"No way midget. It's still way too early to be getting up. Come back in a half hour." And with that he turned away from her and went back to sleep.

Rukia growled. "Look. You have this last chance to get up."

"No way."

"I think you're really going to regret that answer." Then with out another word she stomped out of the room, not missing the sigh of relief from Ichigo. Rukia marched down the hall toward the bathroom looking around for the item she needed. She smirked to herself when she found a bucket in the corner. She picked it up and then brought it over to the sink. Then turning on the cold water she filled up the bucket.

After completing her task, Rukia lugged the bucket of water back toward the room and walked over to Ichigo's bed. "You are sure, that you're not going to wake up?"

She heard Ichigo mutter something inaudible, which Rukia took as a yes. "Alright then, but don't blame me." Then she lifted the bucket up and splashed the cold water on to the sleeping boy.

Upon feeling the contact of the cold water on his skin, Ichigo immediately jumped up out of bed. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" yelled Ichigo as he shivered in his now wet clothes.

Rukia laughed at him, enjoying Ichigo's reaction. It looks like she had found a new method for waking him up.

Ichigo stormed passed her, grabbed his uniform and headed to the bathroom. After he had left, Rukia turned to Ichigo's roommate who was just getting up.

"Sorry about that Chad," said Rukia.

The giant Mexican looked up at her and gave her a small smile. "I am use to it by now." Using as few words as possible, he did not talk much. Rukia returned the smile and headed out the door.

When she reached the bathroom, Ichigo go was just coming out. "Well, it looks like someone is finally moving."

Ichigo glared at her. "You didn't have to wake me up like that."

"How else should I get you out of bed?"

"I think the real question is: why did you feel the need to wake me up so early?"

"In case you forgot Strawberry, we are going on our first trip to the world of the living today and we're supposed to meet earlier."

"I seem to remember the meeting time to be seven thirty and just in case you forgot how to tell time, it's six forty-five."

"Well I figured that we could get a little practice in before we left," said Rukia as she led them toward the practice rooms. Ichigo reluctantly followed grumbling something about a 'crazy bitch' and 'why couldn't she have told him before?'

* * *

"Everyone gather around and stay close," yelled Hisagi to the shinigami-in-training. Ichigo, Rukia, and the rest of their fellow classmates were standing in front of their instructor for the day, Shuhei Hisagi. Just behind him were two others who were his assistants and behind them was a traditional double door, the opening to the world of the living.

"All of you are already partnered up, so you're going to stay in your pairs and once we get to the world of the living all of you will be assigned to a few souls in order to perform konso." A murmur of excitement traveled through the crowd at Hisagi's words.

"Hey!" yelled Hisagi. Everyone immediately went quiet. "I want everyone paying attention! A lot of things can happen in the world of the living. Just recently I got this scar from a hollow attack during a konso practice with the advanced class." He pointed to the fresh scratch over his right eye. A new nervousness stirred through the crowd.

"Momo told me about that incident with the hollow attack," Rukia whispered to Ichigo.

Ichigo gave her an interested look. He had only heard rumors about the incident and he new Rukia's roommate was in that class. "What happened?"

"Momo said that a bunch huge hollows attacked them during their class, but the weird thing was that no one was age to sense such giant hollows coming," retold Rukia.

"How the hell did they get out of that?" questioned Ichigo.

"Evidently there was a couple of captain class shinigami who showed up," said Rukia remembering what Momo had told her.

"Wow. I hope nothing like that happens to our class, you don't usually get so lucky twice," said Ichigo.

Before Rukia could respond, Hisagi started talking again. "Everyone will be getting a hell butterfly which is necessary in order to get to the world of the living." At this, a bunch of black butterflies flew toward the group, one to each person. "Okay now let's go," said Hisagi as he turned around and lead the group through the gate.

As they stepped out of the gate into a small town, several students looked around in wonderment, Rukia included.

Ichigo noticed Rukia's amazement at her surroundings. "You've never been to the world of the living, midget?" asked Ichigo.

Rukia was so enthralled with her the town that she did not immediately answer him. "No. I died when I was a baby so I have no memory it," she said as she examined the tall buildings. Then added as an after thought, "and don't call me midget, Strawberry."

Rukia looked around trying to figure out this new strange world. Then, as she was looking around, she briefly thought about what Ichigo had said and _how_ he had said it. "Wait Ichigo," said Rukia turning to him. Ichigo looked down at her. "Have you ever been to the world of the living?"

"Yeah," said Ichigo as he looked out at the town, which reminded him so much of his own. "I spent most of my childhood here; I was nine years old when I died."

"So you're pretty familiar with the world of the living?"

"Yeah, I know it well enough."

"How did you die?" Rukia asked curiously. It was a common enough question in the Soul Society, but as soon as Rukia asked the question, Ichigo's frown deepened, while his eyes grew darker and she could see the pain being reflected from them. Rukia was about to tell him that he didn't have to answer the question when Hisagi spoke up again.

"I want all of the groups to line up in front of me so that I can give them the location of the soul that they have to perform konso on." Then when Ichigo and Rukia got to the front, Hisagi pulled out a map and showed them where to go. "You two are to go down here, a few streets over, near the park and there is a soul over there."

Once they were sure of where they were going, the two took off down the streets to find the soul. When they reached the appropriate street, they started walking up it, searching. As they came toward the park, they started hearing crying. Ichigo and Rukia went over to find a small girl wearing a dress and her hair up in pigtails.

As they got closer the girl, noticing the strangers' presence looked up and they saw that the left side her face was blood as if she had been in some sort of accident, which they made them conclude that this was the ghost that they were assigned. They also noticed that the girl was crying and looked terrified.

Ichigo and Rukia both walked toward the child as the scared girl backed up against the wall as much as she could. "Don't worry," said Rukia in a soft "We're from Soul Society and are here to help you."

"Wow Rukia," said Ichigo. There was a hint of humor in his voice. "I didn't know it was actually possible for you to be nice."

"Shut up Ichigo!" hissed Rukia. Then she turned back to the girl. "We won't hurt you. We're going to bring you to a better place."

The girl looked up at Rukia with a little glimmer of hope in her eyes, which soon faded when she remembered something. "B-b…b..but," she stuttered. "W-wha-t-t….a-about…t-the…m-m-monster?"

"Monster?" asked Rukia confused. Then all of a sudden, they felt it. A cold spiritual pressure over came there senses. The three heard a noise coming from the other side of the street. They looked over to see the air ripping open and a claw reaching out.

"Rukia…" said Ichigo nervously as they backed up to the wall with the small soul. A huge head with a white mask soon followed the arm as the hollow stepped out on to the street. The watched as the creature's as it sniffed the air with a greedy smile on it's face.

"….three…souls…dinner," hollow said in it's deep and scratchy voice as it looked toward the three at the wall. Ichigo and Rukia stared at the hollow as it examined it's prey, desperately trying to figure out what to do next.

Suddenly, catching them by surprise the hollow charged at them. Rukia was frozen; she knew that she had to do something, not just to save herself, but the girl clinging to her in fear. Ichigo reacted. As the hollow came in at them, he grabbed both Rukia and the girl in his arms and jumped out of the way.

When he landed, he found himself in the open area of the park. Rukia immediately pulled away from his hold and placed the girl on the ground behind them. Rukia and Ichigo then pulled out their zanpaku-tos and watched as the hollow finally figured out what had happened and turned toward them again.

This time when it charged they were a little more prepared. Rukia aimed and fired kido at the hollow, but it only fazed the beast on a small scale. Ichigo then took the initiative and charged at the attacking hollow, setting up for an attack. When Ichigo came closer, the hollow raised one of its huge hands and swung it down at the orange haired boy.

"Ichigo!" screamed Rukia as the hollow threw Ichigo back hitting him against a building. She watched as Ichigo slowly started to stand up from the debris; she could tell that he was disoriented from the blow and she could see blood clashing with his bright hair.

The hollow deciding that it would start with him, prepared to attack Ichigo again. Something deep down in Rukia's stomach churned t the thought that Ichigo probably would not survive another blow. Then as the hollow started going at him again, Rukia did the only thing she could think of.

As he tried to stand, he could feel his whole body shaking and could feel the blood trickling down his neck. His was also vaguely aware of the hollow coming at his again, opening it large mouth with obvious intent. Ichigo tried to raise his sword to protect him, but he knew in the back of his mind that it probably wouldn't do him any good.

The hollow was suddenly right in front of him, but as it came to take a bite of him, Ichigo saw a blur as something or some_one_ ran in between the attack.

Now suddenly, fully aware at what was going on, Ichigo watched in horror as Rukia got in the hollow's path and took the blow for him. He was frozen in shock as its teeth sunk into her shoulder and she cried out in pain.

At that point, everything came to a still as the hollow paused in confusion. Rukia took this time to sputter, "What are you waiting for you idiot! Kill it!"

Her words pulled Ichigo back into reality and he quickly raised his sword, his spiritual pressure rapidly increasing. He then brought down his zanpaku-to with as much power as he could.

The hollow immediately released Rukia and both of them watched as it screamed out in pain. It then started to break off into spiritual particles, leading off with the mask , which revealed the face of man, before that too disappeared.

After the hollow had completely vanished, Rukia suddenly felt her body become heavy as she fell to the ground. Ichigo rushed over to his injured partner and examined her body, seeing that her shoulder was bleeding profusely.

Ichigo could just here Ukitake-taicho's words ringing threw his ears. Now he was really regretting not being able to heal. As a substitute, Ichigo ripped off his left sleeve and shred it into long strips wrapping them tightly around the wound.

Rukia gasped as she felt the pain from her wound. "W-what…what about the s-soul?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Now finished bandaging her arm, Ichigo looked up to see the girl standing next to him, looking down mournfully at Rukia. "She's right here."

"We…need…to…k-konso," she sputtered.

"Okay. Here, let me do it," said Ichigo as he reached for his zanpaku-to and pressed the hilt to the girl's forehead.

"Thank you," whispered the girl as she disappeared into a circle of light.

Rukia gasped in pain as she tried to sit up. "Stop!" said Ichigo as he forced her to lie back down on the ground. "You're going to make it worse if you overexert yourself."

Rukia growled. "Well then how do you propose we get back to the group?"

Ichigo gave her a smirk. "Like this," he said and with that he scooped her up into his arms and slowly started to make his way to the street.

Both surprised and outraged, Rukia began to protest. "What the hell do you think you're doing you idiot! Put me down!"

"Please, if I let you walk, you wouldn't even make it one step."

"I am _fine_! Now let me walk by myself you stupid strawberry!"

Ichigo was about to argue back with some insults of his own, when a very exasperated looking Hisagi appeared in front of them.

He stared at the condition of the two. "What happened?"

"A hollow showed up, but we were able to defeat it and perform konso on the soul," said Ichigo answering the instructor's question. Hisagi just gasped at them in shock.

_These two shouldn't be able to do something like that at their level!_

Ichigo cut off Hisagi's thoughts. "During the fight, Rukia got badly injured." Rukia opened her mouth to protest, but Ichigo continued speaking. "I'm not good with kido, so I bandaged her up as much as I could, but I'm not sure how well I did."

Hisagi looked at Rukia's injured shoulder. "It looks fine for now, though I do suggest that you keep carrying her until we get back." Rukia frowned. "We had just finished up and were heading back when I noticed that the two of you were still missing and that's when I heard the hollow scream." Ichigo nodded.

Then Hisagi pulled out his zanpaku-to and cut into the air, ripping open the gate to the Soul Society. The double doors opened, three hell butterflies emerged to lead them back home.

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**I hope you liked the chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!!!**

**PS I would also like to thank me sister for reading and reviewing my stories! (She wanted me to write this)**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	6. Meeting Friends

**Wow, sorry for not updating in a while! Here's chapter 6**

**Thank you so much for all of you that reviewed, especially those who have reviewed multiple times. **

**Please Enjoy the chapter! I hope everything makes sense! I rushed through the correcting.**

**Disclaimer: Me? Own Bleach? Yeah right.**

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"Who was the founder of the Shinigami Academy?"

"Genryusai," answered Ichigo.

The two of them were sitting outside, under a tree away from all of the traffic of passing students. Rukia was sitting, legs crossed with a big textbook resting on her lap. Next to her Ichigo was lounging against a tree, his hands behind his head, eyes closed as he answered the questions that Rukia threw at him.

"Who is the most recently appointed captain of the Gotei 13?" asked Rukia reaching for another book.

"Toushiro Hitsugaya, tenth company."

"Okay, it looks like you know all of the questions for the written test." Rukia flipped through some papers until she found what she was looking for. "You're not too bad with your zanpaku-to either. The only thing that you probably have to worry about is the kido part of the test."

Ichigo sat up and turned to her glaring. "Hey! I can do kido!"

"Oh really? I've never seen you use it." Rukia turned to face her partner, arms crossed over her chest.

"I've done it before!" he protested. It was true that he had learned kido, though defiantly not as good as Rukia.

"Yeah, but not very well." She closed her eyes and sighed in annoyance. "I've helping you hundreds of times and you still can't get it."

"Okay, look Rukia," Ichigo pointed his accusing figure at the girl. "The normal way to help someone is to physically show them the motions, _not _to try to draw out the steps using crayons and poorly drawn bunnies."

Ichigo earned a punch to the gut for his trouble. "There is nothing wrong with my teaching methods. If you ask me, the problem is the _student _and his inability to do anything." Ichigo did not even bother arguing, there didn't seem to be much point to it, they both knew who was going to win in the end.

"Alright now it is your turn to test me." Ichigo took the book from her lap and flipped it open, but before he could say anything, a high-pitched scream came running across the area.

"RUKIAAAAAAAAAAAA!" shrieked Momo as flew towards them making a landing directly in front of said girl. "Rukia! Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!" Momo gripped Rukia's wrists, holding them in between the two. Her cheeks were red with excitement and she had a smile that was bigger than her face.

"What Momo?" said Rukia as the ecstatic girl bounced up and down in front of her.

"We just had the best class! Aizen-taicho came in to give us a lecture! And guess what?!? He actually remembered me!"

"Oh?" Rukia didn't get why Momo was acting this way. Was this Aizen-taicho that good? Rukia snuck a quick look at Ichigo, who seemed just as confused as she. "Well, then what did he teach?"

Momo paused for a moment, thinking. "The lesson?....well…." Fortunately, for Momo two new people walked up behind her and cut into the conversation.

"Momo! We were wondering where you were. You just took off!" Izuru walked up to the group as Renji came up besides him.

"Rukia!" Renji yelled (though not as loud as Momo) spotting the raven-haired girl sitting on the ground.

Rukia turned from Momo to see Renji and gave him a weak smile. Excited to see her again in awhile, he reached down, grabbed her hand from Momo's grasp and pulled her up into a standing position. Momo jumped up to join them.

Ichigo surveyed the group until he sighed and started to pick up the books before lazily standing up.

"So Rukia, how have you been?" Renji was grinning broadly and was still holding her hands in his own.

"…uh…fine…I'm doing well…" said Rukia uncertainly.

Renji's smile turned into a smug grin. "I bet I could beat you now." Ichigo almost laughed at that. It seemed he was not the only one who got their butt handed to them by one particular midget.

"Maybe…" Rukia really did not know what to say. It was as if she had forgotten how to talk with her childhood friend.

"Hey! We should practice together sometime. Do some catching up," said Renji. Ichigo eyed their hands. Rukia's hands started turning red because of the tightness of Renji's grip. It looked like it was hurting her.

"Sure! I'm free right tonight." A smile started to creep onto her face.

"Yeah-"

"Sorry," Izuru interrupted. "But, Renji, aren't we going to that party tonight?"

Renji turned to his friend. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that." He turned back to Rukia. "Do you want to come with us to the party?"

Rukia agreed with that. "Okay!"

"…uh….Renji….I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'm pretty sure that the invitation was for our class only." Izuru looked between the two with an apologetic look.

Rukia's face fell. "I'm sorry Rukia but-" said Renji.

"That's okay." Rukia looked down toward the ground. Ichigo could see the disappointment in her face.

"Rukia-"

"It's fine Renji." She tried to pull her hands away.

"Rukia-" He kept his grip firm as if he was afraid she would disappear if he let go.

"You're hurting her!" shouted Ichigo leaning forward, grabbing Rukia's wrists and effectively pulling her hands away from Renji's.

Renji looked up in surprise; he had not noticed Ichigo before. "Who the hell are you?"

Rukia turned to look at the orange head who was now standing very close to her while still holding onto her wrists. But, Ichigo was not looking at her instead he was returning the glare that was being thrown at him by the pineapple head standing in front of him.

"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," he replied. Renji blinked. He had heard about this kid. Evidently, he was a delinquent who got into a lot of fights and almost failed the entrance exam because of his behavior.

Renji gave Rukia a quick glance and then back at Ichigo. "What are _you _doing with Rukia?"

By his tone, Ichigo knew exactly what Renji was thinking about him and knew that he was just like everyone else.

His frown deepened and was about to answer when Rukia spoke up. "He's my partner Renji." She was somewhat angry at Renji's attitude toward Ichigo.

Renji turned back to Rukia, his features softening. "Oh, sorry," he muttered.

"Renji," said Momo trying to break the tense that was now passing between the two boys. "We should probably get going; I think the party starts in an hour."

"Okay." He turned towards his friends, then back at Rukia. "See you Rukia." Then the three left.

Rukia watched them go before suddenly realizing something and turning to Ichigo. "Uh…Ichigo."

"Yeah?" He looked down to meet here violet eyes.

"Um…you can let go now."

"What?"

"You can let go of my hands now." Ichigo looked at her, confused for a second, then glanced down at her hands before he quickly let go and stepped back about a foot, a hint of blush on his cheeks.

Rukia giggled at his embarrassment, before her face fell again. Ichigo looked at her and could see from the way she fidgeted and the look in her eyes that she was still disappointed about not going out and maybe reconnecting with her friend.

Ichigo looked at her for a moment. "A few of my friends and I are getting together tonight. If you want to come I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

Rukia looked up at him in surprise, the disappointment gone from her face. "Really?"

"Yeah," said Ichigo as he ran his hand threw his hair. "We are going to this place in Rukongai. Do you want to come?"

"Sure!" she said now positive that he wasn't kidding. Her eyes were shinning as she looked up at him smiling.

Ichigo just started at her, trapped in her eyes. He had never really looked at them closely and just noticed how beautiful they were, that beautiful hade of purple. But, her smile was what caught his attention. He had never seen her smile before and he found that she was pretty when- _Wait. What?_

"Come on," said Ichigo, trying to get rid of the thoughts that were in his head as he turned around and started walking toward the dorms.

"Wait!" called Rukia, coming up alongside of him. "I can carry my own books." She held out her hands toward him.

Ichigo just glanced at her. "Don't worry about it. I've got them."

Rukia looked up at him. She had never really thought it was possible for Ichigo to be so considerate. "Thanks."

Ichigo looked back towards her with a smirk. "No problem. Besides I didn't think someone so _small_ could carry books that were almost the size of you."

Rukia's eyes narrowed and kicked him.

* * *

"We just waiting for someone else to show up and then we can get going," said Ichigo. Rukia nodded in response. She, Ichigo, and Chad were standing just outside the school gate.

After a couple of minutes, a shout came over from the right. "Hey Ichigo!" Rukia turned to see two girls approaching them. The one, who had called out to Ichigo, was medium height with short cut black hair.

Ichigo waved back. "Hey Tatsuki!"

When the two had finally reached the group, Ichigo made the introductions. "Rukia this is Tatsuki Arisawa. She's in the Special Forces Program at the Academy along with Chad and is…"

"My friend Orihime Inoue," said Tatsuki, referring to the girl standing next to her. The girl had reddish-blonde hair clipped back with two hairpins. She was about the same size as Tatsuki, though her chest was much bigger. "We are roommates, though she is in the Kido Corps Program." She turned to the girl. "This is Ichigo and Chad and …Rukia, right?"

"Nice to meet you," said the seemingly shy girl. Orihime smiled at the newly introduced people and blushed when she took a closer look at the orange haired boy.

_He's really cute. _

"Okay, let's get going." Ichigo started turning around and walked toward their destination.

As they walked, Tatsuki turned to Rukia. "So Rukia, how did you end up meeting this idiot?" She motioned her hand toward Ichigo's turned-away back.

Rukia smiled and laughed under her breath. She liked this girl already. "We're partnered together."

"I feel so bad for you," Tatsuki joked. They could almost feel the annoyance coming off for Ichigo.

"Well, it can be very difficult sometimes," Rukia, explained. "He is often brash and insulting and usually he doesn't think." Tatsuki laughed.

"How do you know him?" Rukia asked.

Tatsuki stopped laughing to answer her question. "We grew up together in the world of the living and went to the same karate class."

"Really! You knew each other before you died!?" Rukia was surprised, usually souls were unable to find the people they had known while they were alive.

"Yep," replied Tatsuki. "We went to the same dojo around when we were four years old. And everyday I would beat him enough to send him home crying. Isn't that right Ichigo?"

"Shut up Tatsuki." She gave him an evil grin.

Rukia laughed as she tried to imagine a four-year-old Ichigo getting beat up by this girl. Hearing her, Ichigo turned around and shot her a glare.

"Yeah," said Tatsuki as she remembered her past life. "But, then when we met again in Rukongai he was able to beat me. Though, by then it had been years since we had seen each other. If I remember correctly, I think I was about thirteen or fourteen, while Ichigo passed away when he was nine."

Rukia nodded as she absorbed the information. "So you've known each other for a long time."

"Yep. Though when we met again we just kept in touch. At that time, Ichigo had joined up with Chad and then me and Orihime were living together."

"Yes," Orihime chimed in. "Tatsuki saved me a lot while were in Rukongai, so we stuck together and eventually became friends before entering the Academy."

The two best friends exchanged smiles. Suddenly they heard a voice cry out and a figure running at them at full speed. "IIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

The brown haired boy was charging straight at Ichigo. There was a goofy grin on his face and exaggerated tears in his eyes.

Ichigo, seeing the crazy teen running at him, brought his arm out in front of himself, allowing the boy to run smack into it, causing him to fall on the ground.

Ichigo looked down at his feet. "Long time, no see Keigo." He was given a muffled reply.

Then coming from the direction that Keigo had come in, another smaller and younger boy with short black hair walked up to them. "Hi Ichigo."

"Hey Mizuiro. How you've been?"

"Pretty much the same. You know what it's like to be around this guy." Mizuiro waved his hand in the direction of Keigo who was now getting up.

After Keigo had fully stood up, he looked over at the group. His eyes became wide when his eyes landed on Orihime. Then almost as if it were a reaction he rushed over to her, his arms open wide, yell. "Oh goddess of beauty! Princess-"He was suddenly cut off when Tatsuki sent a high kick straight to his face, forcing him back to the ground once again.

Mizuiro also looked over the group and spotted the other girl who had joined them. He put on a smile and walked over to Rukia. "Hello, I'm Mizuiro Kojima. What's you're name?"

But, before Rukia could respond, Ichigo cut in. "Watch out for this guy, Rukia," he warned. "He may look innocent, but this guy is a real player."

Mizuiro spun around to face Ichigo with shock on his face. "Ichigo! Stoop ruining my rep." Then he turned back to Rukia, all smiles. "It's nice to meet you Rukia."

Rukia returned the smile, a little unsure. "Same to you…Mizuiro."

Then Mizuiro leaned in a little closer to her and whispered. "You don't have to worry. Usually I go for older woman."

Rukia gave him a strange look as he backed off and went over to join Chad. Then, Rukia suddenly jumped when yet another shout came from the direction of Keigo. "Who is this beauty? Where did this goddess come from?" he cried as he came toward her. Rukia immediately went into a defensive position, but Ichigo beat her to it. Keigo's face once again met Ichigo's fist as the boy went flying.

When he came back, Mizuiro answered his question. "Ichigo picked her up."

Ichigo, caught by surprise, turned to face Mizuiro, completely off guard. "What!?"

But, Keigo didn't hear him, instead he went up to Ichigo put a hand on his shoulder with tears in his eyes and said, "Good job Ichigo! Your first girlfriend!"

Ichigo scowled and pushed the boy away from him. "Rukia is not my girlfriend."

"Well then how do you know her?" asked Mizuiro.

"We're partners," replied Ichigo.

Both boys were taken aback in shock. "Really!" yelled Keigo starting to get excited. "You've already gone that far!"

Both Ichigo and Rukia blushed at that comment, though Ichigo covered it with anger. "Not like that, you perverts! I meant that Rukia and I are partnered together at the Academy."

"Oh," they replied. Keigo looked a little disappointed. Ichigo looked like he wanted to hit someone while Rukia was still blushing. Tatsuki was just laughing at the whole situation.

"Well in that case," said Keigo, hope coming back into his face. "Rukia-san will you go out with me?"

He started going over to her again, but Ichigo stopped him by grabbing the back of his collar. "She's not going out with you."

"Why not," Keigo whined. "You said you weren't going out with her! Or did you change your mind?"

Rukia spoke up, putting on her fake smile. "I am sorry Asano-san, but I'm going to have to decline."

Keigo's bright mood immediately sank as he hunched forward. Seeing his reaction, Rukia looked a little taken aback. "Um…sorry."

"Don't worry Rukia-san," said Mizuiro. "He should be use to rejection by now."

"Alright," said Tatsuki, changing the mood. "Can we go get something to eat now? I'm starving!"

"Yeah!" agreed Orihime. "I would really like some wasabi and honey ramen." Everyone gave her an odd look.

"Yeah let's get going," said Mizuiro, breaking the silence.

* * *

As she and Ichigo were walking back, (Chad had stayed behind) in her head, Rukia went over the night. They had decided to go to a local tavern to get something to eat and then later they walked down by the river on the way home. The whole night was full of talking and laugher. (And bruises in Keigo's case.)

Rukia took in a deep breath and sighed. It had been a long time since she had felt this way. A long time since she talked and laughed with friends or had really left like she had belonged and she loved it.

Ichigo glanced down at the petite girl walking besides him and saw the happy expression on her face. Seeing it forced a hint of a smile to come across his own face.

Then suddenly, Rukia spoke up. "Thanks for bringing me. I really had a great time tonight. Your friends are really…unique."

"Yeah," replied Ichigo remembering how they had laughed as Keigo try to pick up a girl and failed miserably.(Chad helped him out when the girl's boyfriend came over.) Then Mizuiro went and got two girls while Keigo sulked. After that, when they were actually eating Orihime had the strangest concoction on her plate and ate every bite. Tatsuki spent the night in the middle of everything while Rukia sat to the side and giggled, every so often brought into the conversation.

The walked across the yard until they came to their dorm, where they parted.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," said Rukia before she turned toward her room.

"Yeah," replied Ichigo. "See you tomorrow."

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**I hope it wasn't too bad! I think this ended up being my one of my longest chapters (even though I though it would end up being the shortest-figures)**

**PLEASE REVIEW!!!**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	7. Seeing Double

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My deepest apologies for being so late. But, I have been grounded for the past couple of weeks and getting on the computer was pretty close to imposible.

**So, here is chapter 7, I would like to thank all of those who reviewed ch. 6. **

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach._**

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"Alright everyone, settle down we have an important lesson today." Ochi-sensei hurried into the classroom which slowly started to get quiet. She reached her desk, quickly took attendance and then turned to address the class.

"First, I would like to hand back your semester grades." She took the stack of papers from her desk and started handing them out as she continued to speak. "Anyone who got below seventy percent will be able to take the makeup test this weekend, but those of who whom received a grade below fifty percent I would suggest that you rethink your decision of being a Shinigami, otherwise you may be in this class for a very long time."

Ichigo turned toward Rukia, intending to compare grades. He wasn't frowning as much, so Rukia figured he done a pretty good job. It was confirmed when she saw the when she saw the ninety-five at the top of his paper.

When Ichigo saw her grade he said, "Damn, you beat me by two points." Rukia gave him a smug smirk. "And what the hell did you draw next to your name?"

Rukia looked down at the drawing in question. "It's a bunny of course! I finished early and was bored." Ichigo just rolled his eyes.

"Okay class!" shouted the teacher. "You can compare grades later, but we have a guest coming in soon and I don't want to keep him waiting." Everyone grudgingly out away their tests and drew their attention to the front.

"Good. Now as you know in the upcoming weeks all of you will be doing a practical in the world of the living. This is very important because all though you will be with your partner, it is still dangerous as a hollow could attack at anytime."

One student in the back raised her hand. "Sensei? What will we have to do for the practical?"

"Oh!" said the teacher as if suddenly remembering. "Don't worry! All you will have to do is go into the world of the living alone with your partner and perform konso on a few souls. Nothing major, though if you fail you won't be able to pass. And if a hollow does suddenly appear you will be able to call for help which will hopefully arrive on time," she said with a smile.

"Does everyone understand?" The class nodded nervously. "Okay than! Let's move on to what we will be learning today! As I was saying, we will be learning about the necessary equipment that you will need in order to go to the world of the living. I am just waiting for our guest…"

"No need to worry! I'm here!" came a voice form the door way. The class turned to see two men standing in the doorway. The one who had spoken was average height with sandy blonde hair that flipped out at the ends and was wearing a long captain's coat. The man standing behind him could only be described as weird with his robotic like face, blue hair, and painted black fingernails.

"Oh good!" said Ochi-sensei, clapping her hands together. She turned to her class. "I would all like you to welcome Kisuke Urahara-taicho and Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the twelfth division." And with that she left the classroom.

Urahara-taicho waved after her before turning back to the class with a smile on his face. "Good morning!" he said cheerily to the class. "As your teacher just said and I am Kisuke Urahara and this is Mayuri Kurotsuchi and we are going to show you some of the other things that you will need for the world of the living. So now everyone follow me!" And with that he started heading for the door.

The class gave him a curious look and then picked up their belongings and headed out the door. The captain led the class down the hall and into a larger classroom where all of the desks had been cleared from it. Instead on the floor were strange body-looking things dressed up in their school uniforms.

"I would like all of you to stand next to one of the gigais on the floor. Boys on the left, girls on the right," ordered Urahara. The class did as they were told and stood next to the bodies on the floor eyeing them curiously. "Okay everyone! Now the things that are at your feet are called gigais which act as a substitute body for when you are in the world of the living. These will allow you to be seen by humans in the living world and good for in case you need to heal and regain your powers over a long period of time. So try them out!"

The class looked blankly at the captain. "Go on try them! All you have to do is step inside them." The class gave Urahara another look before hesitantly laying down on the bodies, which they easily fell through. Immediately the gigais started to take the shape of the soul inside of them. Slowly they started gaining control of the gigais and stand, looking around at each other.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Urahara. "Now Kurotsuchi and myself will be coming around to check and make sure everything is in order."As the two started going around, the students started walking around themselves, finding their friends.

Rukia walked over to the left side of the room to find Ichigo who was stretching in the gigai.

"Hey," said Rukia coming up next to him. Ichigo looked up to see the petite girl walking up to him. "How do you feel?"

"I dunno. It's kind of strange to tell the truth," replied Ichigo slipping his hands into his pockets. "What about you?"

"Same," said Rukia. Ichigo made an odd face. Rukia looked at him. "What? What did I say?"

"No, no," said Ichigo shaking his head. "It's not you. It's my pocket…" he trailed off pulling his hand out of his pocket. In was hand was a weird pez dispenser with a duck head. Both Ichigo and Rukia looked at it oddly.

Then, as if on cue, Urahara spoke up from the other side of the room. "If all of you look in your pockets you will find Substitute Soul pills or 'soul candy'. And each one comes with a customary design. Also we will be coming around with some other goodies for you from yours truly."

Rukia reached into her pocket and pulled out her own soul candy. Looking at it she let a little yelp of excitement, her eyes shining. Ichigo looked down at and then shook his head.

_I should have seen that one coming._

"You're very luck," said Urahara coming towards them. "Chappy is very popular and I hardly ever have it in stock."

"Chappy?" said Ichigo.

Rukia turned toward the captain and bowed. "Thank you so much!"

Urahara smiled at her amusingly. "I'm glad to see that you like it." Then he pulled out a few things from the box he was carrying. "Here these are also for you. One for each group." He handed them a cell phone, a tube with chicken head on top of it, and a red glove with a skull on it. "Don't worry I will explain them in a minute. But, before I go, what are your names?"

"Rukia," answered said girl almost immediately.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," said the orange headed boy. "What?" said Ichigo seeing the Urahara's face at the mention of his name.

"Oh! No, nothing, it's just, uh…it's not every day that you meet someone with bright orange hair!" said Urahara regaining his composer. Urahara saw Ichigo's face set into a frown. "Don't frown! I'm not trying to insult you." Ichigo relaxed a little. "In fact, an old friend of mine I believe has a son with that same color hair." Ichigo gave him an odd look.

"Really?" said Rukia disbelievingly. "There is someone else out there with same funny looking hair?"

Ichigo glared at the raven hair girl standing next to him. "Shut up Rukia." Urahara chuckled.

"Well if you will excuse me I need to talk to the class." And with that Urahara turned toward the front and walked away.

When he reached the front of the room he addressed the class. "Can I have everyone's attention? Good. Okay, about the things that we gave to all of the groups. First we gave you a cell phone which is not only for making calls if you are in a jam, but you can also use as a tracker for hollows and konpakus. Secondly, the tube with the chicken head is a kikanshinki, which erases memories just in case something happens. I also gave you all a red glove. This you will find to be very helpful if you want to get out of your gigais or take a mod soul out of a gigai, which brings me to the Soul Candy." Urahara pulled out his own to demonstrate. "Each of these dispensers is carrying a mod soul and all you need to do is pop one of these into your mouths and a substitute soul will take over your body.""

Urahara paused for a second allowing all of the information to sink in before continuing. "Right now I would like all of you to try using the soul candy and meet your official mod konpaku."

Nervously, everyone brought the dispensers up to their mouths and popped out the pill. Instantly, all of them were forced out of their gigais and watched as the substitute soul took over.

Ichigo watched as the gigai that looked exactly like him take on a very easy and relaxed type of face and a goofy smile which caused Ichigo's permanent frown to deepen.

"Greetings," said the mod konpaku cheerily. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki! 'Early to bed, early to rise,' that's my motto!" Ichigo just looked on in horror.

Rukia came up next to him and gave a small giggle at Ichigo's situation. "Wow," she said sarcastically. "He's exactly like you." Ichigo glared at her. Then he looked to her right to see her mod konpaku.

"It doesn't seem like you have any probl-" But, Ichigo was soon cut off when Rukia's substitute soul jumped at him and yelled "Pyon!" Next thing he knew, Ichigo was on the ground with his arm looked behind his back.

Rukia laughed again and squatted down in front of Ichigo to be more at his level. "I named her Chappy. What do you think?"

"You named her Chappy?"

"Yup! Why? Is there something wrong?" Rukia gave him a look that would've killed him if he hadn't already been use to it. "What did you name your mod konpaku?"

"Uhhh... I didn't name him," said Ichigo.

"Come on. Don't you have any imagination at all?"

"I'm not the one who named their mod konpaku Chappy." Rukia glared at him. "Okay, okay… how about…Kon?" The soul in question just kept smiling his goofy smile as if he was in lala land.

Suddenly Urahara called from the front of the class room. "Can everyone come up here for a moment I would like to show you how the kikanshinki works. You can leave the mod konpakus there."

Rukia sighed. "I guess you're going to have to let him up now Chappy." Chappy immediately jumped up and went to go stand by Kon as Ichigo and Rukia headed towards the front of the class.

* * *

As soon as Ichigo and Rukia left, Kon dropped his goofy face which was immediately replaced by a mischievous smile. Finally those two were gone and now he could do what he wanted.

Chappy watched her master and the boy leave before turning to look at Kon who was now stretching out his new found legs. She looked down at him curiously.

Kon looked up at Chappy, seeing the girl next to him. He had planned to get out of here but maybe no there would be a slight change in plans. "Want to have some fun?"

* * *

The class was watching as Urahara-taicho instructed them in using the kikanshinki, until suddenly a crash came from the back of the classroom.

Everyone spun around at the noise to see a giant hole in the window. Both noticing that their gigais were missing, Ichigo and Rukia rushed to the window, just in time to see a flash of orange disappear around the corner.

"Oh dear," said Urahara coming up behind them. "It looks like we have a bit of a problem on our hands."

* * *

"So," said Kon as soon as they got a safe distance away from the classroom. "What would you like to do first?"

Chappy furrowed her eye brows as she thought. "Hmmm… I don't know? What can we do? Pyon?"

Kon smiled at her. "Anything! We're free now and we have bodies!"

"Anything?...Pyon?"

"Yup!"

"Well …" she said hesitantly. "There is something that I've always wanted to try…"

* * *

"What?!" yelled Ichigo.

"Now, now there's no need to shout," said Urahara.

"No need! There is a defective soul running around with my face and everyone is just standing here."

"I don't think 'defective' is the right word," said Urahara. "In fact, he is very much enhanced. It looks like he has powered up his legs."

"Enhanced?" asked Rukia before Ichigo started yelling again.

"Yes," replied Urahara. "A while ago, some scientists were experimenting with konpakus by trying to enhance their abilities in order for them to fight hollows. The project was canceled because people thought it was wrong for these 'mod souls' to be in dead bodies in order to fight hollows, so these new souls were ordered to be destroyed."

"Destroyed?" said Ichigo calming down a little.

"Yes, though it looks like one of them got away."

* * *

Chappy and Kon were happily walking around the grounds until they heard a shout come from behind them. They turned around to see Ichigo and Rukia running toward them; the konpakus' eyes widened in panic. Kon quickly scooped up Chappy in his arms and jumped.

Ichigo and Rukia, who were getting close, watched in amazement as Kon jumped up to the roof of a three story building.

Kon addressed Chappy who was still in his arms. "Why don't we find somewhere quieter?"

"Okay!" she said with a smile. "Pyon!"

With that Kon ran over and jumped over the other side of the building and running to where he thought might be safe.

"Damn it!" yelled Ichigo. "They got away."

"Well, then come on!" said Rukia running towards the building. "We need to find out where they went before they get in trouble."

* * *

Kon opened the door and was pleased to find the room empty.

"Are we allowed to be here? Pyon," Chappy asked.

Kon looked at her. "I don't see why not, it looks like a training room, so I don't see why wouldn't be allowed in here. After all we look like students."

Chappy let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, Pyon." Then she looked up at Kon with a big smile on her face. "Then shall we get started, Pyon?"

But, before he could answer, Chappy leaned in toward Kon and kissed him.

* * *

"So, what do you want to practice today?" asked Izuru as he and Renji walked down the hall.

"I don't know," replied Renji.

"You should probably work on your kido," Izuru suggested. Renji made a face as his friend laughed. "Come on! You know what they say: practice makes perfect."

"Yeah… I just hope no one is using the training room."

* * *

"_Well…" she said hesitantly. "There is something that I've always wanted to try…Pyon"_

"_What?" asked Kon. _

"_I…I've...never….Pyon… well…I would like …I've always wanted to kiss someone…Pyon," said Chappy relieved that she had finally been able to say it._

"_A kiss?" repeated Kon looking at her. _

_Chappy went bright red as she nodded her head."Yeah, I've seen people kiss before and they always look so happy. Pyon. I always wanted to be happy like that too. Pyon." _

_Kon gave her a smile. "I think I can help."_

Kon was surprised that she had jumped into the kiss so soon. She had been so nervous before when she had first mentioned it. He was also surprised at the softness of her lips that were now pressed against his. It was true that he had never been kissed before seeing as he had never been in a body before, but he had never imagined it to be like this.

Chappy broke away from the kiss and took a step back blushing as she looked for a reaction from the now dazed Kon. "Umm…Pyon?" said Chappy nervously.

As being pulled from a trance, Kon snapped back into reality and looked down as the girl standing in front of him. He flashed a huge smile before grabbing her by the waist and pulling her in for another kiss.

Chappy let out a gasp as Kon pulled her towards him. But when their lips met she immediately reacted and started kissing him back.

* * *

Renji and Izuru approached the door and opened it, entering the training room, Renji going in first. Renji looked around the room and to see if anyone was there and froze at what he saw.

Izuru coming in behind him looked to see you had caused his friend to stop. His eyes went wide when he spotted the other two occupants of the room.

Renji's mouth was hanging open and his eyes were open wide. He had long since dropped what he was carrying and just stared. There in the middle of the room was Rukia and she was…she was kissing that orange haired bastard! He could not believe what he was seeing. His face dropped into a frown as anger built into his chest.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!" shouted Renji as stomped over to the two.

Hearing Renji yell, Kon and Chappy broke away from their kiss to see a very upset Renji coming towards them. Kon grabbed Chappy's hand defensively and was about to run when two more people came rushing into the room.

Kon, Chappy, Renji, and Izuru turned to the door to see Ichigo and Rukia standing there out of breath. Renji stared at them, now completely confused.

"There they are!" yelled Ichigo running toward the two konpaku.

"I know you idiot! I can see them!" Rukia yelled running after him.

"Oh no! Pyon!"

Kon tightened his grip on Chappy's hand and started running toward the door. He was able to make it past Ichigo and Rukia, but when he reached the door he was stopped by Urahara who pushed his hand into the mod soul's chest, the red glove forcing the soul out. Then he turned to Chappy and did the same with her.

At this point Ichigo and Rukia had come up to the fallen gigais and reached down to pick up the substitute souls.

"What do we do with these now?" Ichigo asked looking at Urahara for the answer.

"You can give them to me," he said holding out his hand.

"What will happen to them if we do?" asked Rukia.

"They will be properly disposed of and the two of you will be given new substitute souls."

Ichigo looked down at the soul in his hand. "Disposed of?"

"Yes," replied Urahara.

"Isn't there some other way?" asked Ichigo.

"No. I afraid there isn't."

"What if we want to keep them?" asked Rukia. Urahara gave her a strange look.

"Well I guess, you could…," Urahara said slowly. "Actually it is probably best so that I don't get reported for giving you faulty souls. I'm not exactly, on Soul Society's good list." He gave them a look. "Would you both agree to this?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

"Okay then," said Urahara turning and heading out the door. "They're yours."

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**PLEASE REVIEW!! I would really like to know what you think of this chapter. And I know that Urahara is really OOC, but I promise that he will get better in the future.**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	8. Rumors, Bunnies, and Hollows

**_Disclaimer: I Don't Own BLEACH_**

Rukia threw herself down on her bed; her cheeks went red at the thought of the afternoon's events. Though she had not arrived in time to actually see what had happened, Renji had… loudly informed them of what had occurred.

She let out a sigh. Renji had always been very protective of her, but she still didn't get why was so angry. I mean really! He of all people should know that she wouldn't go around kissing people. In fact, she found romance to be a waste of time. Rukia had grown up in Rukongai where in the middle of fending for your life there wasn't time for that kind of thing. Plus, she didn't get why Renji had been giving Ichigo this death glare the entire time. Renji could just be a little over the top sometimes.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and Rukia sat up to see Tatsuki and Momo fall into the room, followed by a very quiet Orihime. The two on the floor, quickly relieved jumped up and ran across the room toward Rukia until they were right in her face.

"Is it true that you and Ichigo kissed!" the two of them shouted. Rukia leaned back, trying to get away from the hyper girls trying to regain her hearing.

"W-w-what?!?" sputtered Rukia.

"Is it true that the two of you were found kissing in the training room this afternoon?" said Tatsuki as Momo jumped up and down next to her.

"No it is not true!" Rukia tried pushing the girls away from her. After that night out in Rukongai, Rukia had discovered that Orihime's and Tatsuki's room was not too far from her own and had quickly introduced them to Momo. The girls had hit it off well and it was not uncommon to find the four together talking or doing homework.

"It's not?" Momo looked pretty disappointed. "But, Izuru said that he saw it happen!"

Rukia made a mental note to go hunt down Izuru later. "Then he failed to mention that it really was our substitute konpaku in our gigais."

"Really?" came Orihime's voice from the door. Her voice was brighter and she was once again wearing her usual smile. "That's a relief."

Tatsuki turned toward her friend with a mischievous smile on her face. "Why? Do you have a crush on him, Orihime?" Orihime's face went bright red.

"Don't worry Orihime," Rukia comforted. "There isn't anything going one between us."

"Aww! Come on! That's no fun!" said Momo with a huff.

Tatsuki looked toward Momo and laughed. "It's going to a long time before our Rukia falls for some guy."

Momo let out a sigh. "I guess you're right."

* * *

Rukia walked up to the door and knocked. It was soon opened by a very disgruntled Ichigo.

"What's your problem?" Rukia finally asked.

Ichigo turned to her, his frown still firmly set in place. "It's all of those stupid rumors that are flying around about us."

"Yeah? So? It's not like that's anything new."

"That's my point. It's been two weeks already and I still keep hearing things about the 'nature' of our relationship."

"Don't worry about it. It will go away eventually." Rukia shrugged. She didn't let the rumors bother her.

"Well then 'eventually' had better come soon," Ichigo muttered as they came to stop.

Rukia was about to respond when the door opened to reveal Ochi-sensei at the door.

"Oh good! You're here" she said. "Come on in."

The two shinigami-in-training followed their teacher into the office.

"There are two reasons why I wanted you to come into my office," Ochi-sensei started. "Firstly, as you probably already know, the two of you are scheduled for your practical." They nodded. "I would just like to remind you to make sure that you have everything you need and to watch out for any hollows. You will be spending a few hours in the world of the living in which time you will perform konso on as many souls as you can." Ochi-san reached over her desk and handed them a piece of paper. "Here are your coordinates. And good luck."

Then the woman sat down and stared working on some papers. Ichigo and Rukia exchanged a look.

"Umm…Ochi-sensei?" Ichigo tried to get her attention. "Wasn't there a second thing that you wanted to tell us?"

Ochi-san suddenly popped up. "Oh yes! Of course!" She looked up to address them. "The other thing that I wanted to talk to the two of you about was your grades." They both gave her confused looks. Their grades were both very good, so they didn't see why she needed to talk to them.

The sensei continued. "Both of you have exceptional grades and I wanted to talk to you about moving up to the upper class." They looked at her, shocked. "You would both still be paired together and I think it would be a good decision for the both of you. Many times I feel as if being in my class is holding you back." She paused as if thinking back on something. "Actually I don't really understand how you ended up in my class anyway. From my knowledge you two are better than some of the students from the upper class."

"Really?" asked Rukia, not believing what she was hearing. Ichigo seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Ochi-sensei gave the girl a small smile. "Yup! You don't have to give me your decision just yet. Why don't you talk it over together and give me your answer when you get back?"

Ichigo and Rukia nodded their heads before turning and heading out the door.

* * *

Ichigo and Rukia had only been there for about an hour and they had already performed konso on a few lost souls. Now they were casually walking down the streets waiting for an order to come from the cell phone. Rukia was eagerly looking around at everything, from the hundreds of shops to the people who walked by. Ichigo on the other hand just watched her- who was jumping around excitedly she took everything in- and answering the millions of questions she threw at him about the world of the living.

Ichigo cringed when he heard a scream come from the petite girl walking besides him.

"CHAPPY!!!" screamed Rukia as she ran to the window of one of the stores. Ichigo grudgingly followed her, trying to ignore the stares they were receiving. When he came up to see what had gotten Rukia so hyped up, he looked in the window to see a bunch of bunnies hopping around in their pen. Ichigo glanced at Rukia to see her with a huge smile on her face, her eyes shining.

"Look! Look Ichigo!" she cried.

"Yeah, yeah I can see them," said a bored Ichigo.

"Aren't they adorable!?!"

"You know you can go in and hold them if you want," said Ichigo not really giving it much thought.

"Really?!?" Rukia looked up at him her eyes were wide with hope. Ichigo nodded his head in response. "Than what are you waiting for? Come on!" Then Rukia grabbed the surprised Ichigo by the hand and pulled him toward the door.

"W-what? Wait Rukia!" Ichigo tried to stop her. "What about our job?" Really this was Rukia they were talking about; usually she was strict about her job. Guess the bunnies were worth it.

Rukia didn't stop, she just turned back to face him. "What about it? The pager will go off when there is a hollow, so there is no need to worry about that right now."

Ichigo couldn't really argue with that one. After all they hadn't really been doing anything before anyway. And besides she looked really cute when she was smiling like that- _Wait. Scratch that last thought._

When they entered the store Rukia dragged him over to the lady at the counter. "Could we see the bunnies please?" The lady nodded and walked her over to the pen where she opened the door and motioned for them to go in. Rukia dragged Ichigo in before letting go and sitting down in the middle of the room.

Ichigo watched as the bunnies slowly, but surly, approached the raven haired girl. Gently, Rukia held out her hand as one of the bunnies came over and sniffed it. Ichigo was unaware that they frown on his face was slowly disappearing as Rukia picked up one of the small, white bunnies and cuddled it a up against her chest, running her fingers along the small creature's back.

After awhile Ichigo broke the silence. "What do you think about what Ochi-sensei was telling us?"

Rukia looked up to face him. "I was thinking that we do it. What about you?"

"Yeah, I was going to do it. I was just wondering what you thought about it."

Rukia laughed. "I didn't know that you cared about my opinion. You know, even if I didn't want to I'm sure they would still move you up."

"Yeah, I guess. But, I've kind have gotten use to having you as my partner." Rukia stared at him. Ichigo noticed the look she was giving him. "I mean, we've been working together for most of the year, might as well keep the arrangement."

Rukia was about to respond when a loud beeping noise interrupted her causing both Ichigo and Rukia to jump. The bunny that had been sitting on her lap, immediately jumped off and hopped over to join its friends.

Rukia pulled put the phone as she stood up. "There's a soul not too far from here."

"Well then, let's go," said Ichigo before he turned toward the door with Rukia right behind him.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Positive," said Rukia as she checked from the phone to the area around them.

"Well, this just doesn't seem like the place where a soul would hang out," said Ichigo. "I mean look at all the people! There has got to be some kind gathering going on." The whole area was crowded with people, all of them excitedly talking to one another. You could almost feel the anticipation in the air.

"Yeah, maybe," replied Rukia. "But, it's an old abandoned hospital. Isn't it an odd place to hold a gathering?"

Suddenly, someone walking by bumped into Rukia causing her to fall over. Luckily Ichigo was close enough to step forward and catch her.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" yelled Ichigo as he helped Rukia get back on her feet.

The man who had bumped into her, turned around to face them a shocked expression on his face. "I am so sorry!" the man shouted.

"That's okay I'm-"Rukia started, but she was cut off when the man suddenly lunged at her and wrapped her in a huge bear hug.

"I am so sorry for knocking into you! I hope I didn't hurt you!" Rukia cringed. Did he have to be so loud? She struggled trying to get out of his grasp.

"Let go of her!" Ichigo shouted, trying to pull the apologetic man off of her. Finally, mostly from Ichigo's efforts, the man let go and gave the pair a goofy grin.

"Haha! I hope I didn't hurt you!" Rukia was about to reply when a girl's voice came from the crowd.

"Dad! Where did you go?" At the voice the man turned around where two girls emerged from the crowd.

"Yuzu!" he shouted. "Don't worry Daddy's here!" The two young girls walked over to their group.

"I glad we found you!" said Yuzu. Ichigo froze when he got a closer look at the girls. Then he looked back between them and the man who had crashed into Rukia.

The man ran towards the girl and wrapped her in a huge. "Don't worry! Daddy's okay!"

"I'm more worried about these people," said the girl standing next to Yuzu. She walked over to Ichigo and Rukia. "Sorry about goat chin over here. I hope here wasn't bothering you too much."

"Not at all!" said Rukia, putting on her fake cheery smile. "It was just an accident." The dark haired girl shrugged.

"Karin!" yelled Yuzu. "Come on let's go find a spot!"

"Yes! Let's go!" yelled the father. "We need to get a spot in the front row!" With that he and Yuzu started squeezing their way through the crowd.

Karin let out a deep sigh of annoyance and was about to grudgingly follow when Rukia spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but could you tell us what is going on here?"

Karin gave her a funny look. "You've never heard of the TV show 'Spontaneous Trips' with Don Kanonji?" Rukia shook her head. "Well it's some show about this guy who goes around cleansing evil spirits. Personally, I think it's ridiculous, but as you can see my dad and sister are really into it. I just got dragged here."

"Oh," said Rukia. "Well, thank you. And I'm sorry, but we really need to go." Karin nodded as Rukia turned to leave. When she realized that Ichigo wasn't moving (he still seemed to be studying the girl in front of him), she turned and pulled him by the arm. "Come on Ichigo!"

When he felt Rukia pull him, he immediately snapped back into reality and yelled as she pulled him. "Hey Rukia! Stop! You don't have to drag me!"

Karin stared at them, eyes wide as she watched them disappear into the crowd.

_Ichigo. She had called him Ichigo._

Her brain was spinning as unpleasant memories swirled through her head. Images that she hadn't thought about in years were now coming back. She started feeling sick. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the painful images that were popping into her head.

She opened her eyes and looked in the direction that the two had gone. That boy. His name was Ichigo. And not only that, but he had bright orange hair too, which wasn't a very common combination. But, her brother had died years go. And even though she had been very young at the time, she unfortunately remembered everything very clearly.

She let out a sigh as she started walking in the general direction of her family, her mind racing. It was true, (even though she didn't like to admit it) that she could see ghosts, but she knew as much about the afterlife as anyone else. And the thing that bothered her was that even though the person she had just seen was defiantly older, he shared an uncanny resemblance to her dead brother.

She let out another sigh.

_Ichigo…_

* * *

Rukia pushed her way through the crowd pulling Ichigo behind her.

"Rukia, can you slow down!"

"No! We need to find that soul!"

"Yeah, but breaking my arm won't help!" At this point Rukia had pushed her way to the front, where she finally let go of him.

As Ichigo walked up next to Rukia he looked at the scene before him. The first thing he saw was the old hospital standing in front of them. Then around the entrance there were a bunch of guys setting up things like cameras and lights.

Ichigo turned to the girl next to him. "Hey, Rukia…Where did you say we were?"

Rukia pulled the sheet of paper from her pocket and examined it. "Well…the coordinates say-"

"No, not the coordinates! What is the name of the town?"

She looked at the paper again. "Oh! Um…let's see… it's some town called Karakura." Ichigo's eyes opened wide at her information.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked, curious about his behavior.

"Well-"

But, Ichigo was suddenly interrupted by a blood curdling scream that only he and Rukia seemed to be able to hear. They looked up to the ghost of a man chained to the building.

"THIS HOSPITAL IS MINE!" he screamed. "I WON'T LET ANYONE TAKE IT FROM ME!"

As he continued to rant, Ichigo and Rukia turned toward each other. "Well it looks like we found the ghost. So what should we do about him?"

"Hmm…well, we don't really need to rush," answered Rukia. "The chain of fate is still for the most part intact and it would probably be easier to just wait until no one else is around." Ichigo nodded in agreement. As long as no one irritated the hole in its chest, everything would be fine.

Then coming from the camera crew they heard the countdown to the show. When they finally reached zero, everyone was wildly looking around until one person yelled, "Look up there, in the sky!"

Everyone immediately looked up to see a weirdly dressed man in a parachute, fall down. "SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU!" the man shouted, everyone joining in with him at the end as he made his touch down. Then the cry of "BOHAHAHA!" rang through the night.

Ichigo and Rukia looked around them, bewildered.

"Hmm..," said Rukia as she watched the action around her. "So that's the star of tonight's festivities! What a spectacular entrance!" The excitement seemed to be catching on to her. Ichigo looked at her like she had lost her mind.

He turned back to watch as the man, Don Kanonji, walked surprisingly toward the ghost. Maybe he really could see ghosts.

He turned to the crowd. "This one defiantly smells mean spirit!" Then the man took out his cane and stepped toward the ghost stabbing it in the already forming hole in its chest.

Ichigo and Rukia watched in horror as the gap in the ghost's chest widened until it was completely ripped open.

"Rukia!" yelled Ichigo as the soul screamed, hurting the ears of anyone who had the ability to hear.

"I know! I know!" she shouted back, just as panicked. If this didn't stop then they would be dealing with a full out hollow.

Both of them reached into their pockets for the substitute, popped them into their mouths and felt their souls being pushed out of the gigais. As soon as they were in their soul forms they quickly rushed forward toward the scene.

Then just as they came up to the screaming soul and Don Kanonji, the soul suddenly exploded. Time seemed to stand still as the soul shattered to pieces and disappeared.

Don Kanonji was the first to react. "MISSON ACOMPLISHED!" he shouted. A cheer rang threw the crowd. Ichigo and Rukia looked around nervously trying to spot a hollow.

"What are you two spirits doing here?" Surprised, Ichigo and Rukia turned to see Don Kanonji addressing them.

"What are we doing here!?! What are you doing!?!" yelled Ichigo as Rukia took out her cell phone.

"Don't you know who I am?" he asked. "I am the century's premier spiritualist, Don Kanonji! I cleanse souls!"

Ichigo was not in the mood for this guy. "Do you know what you've done!?! You didn't cleanse it, you-"

"Ichigo! On the roof!" shouted Rukia franticly. Both Ichigo and Don Kanonji looked toward the roof to see the hollow materialize.

"Shit! Now we have to deal with a hollow!" Ichigo drew his zanpaku-to as Rukia did the same.

The hollow jumped down from the roof shouting, "FEED ME!!"

Rukia held out her left hand. "Hado 4, Byakurai!" Lightning shot from her finger tips aimed directly at the hollow.

When the kido hit it, it let out a cream, it kept charging forward, this time towards them. Ichigo brought up his sword defensively in front of himself and was about to run toward the hollow when Kanonji grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"W-what?" As he fell back he saw Don Kanonji set forward and hold his cane in front of him.

_What the hell?!? Does he intend to fight that thing?_

Just as the hollow was coming down on the spiritualist Rukia jumped in the way, her zanpaku-to holding the creature back. Then with all the strength she could muster she pushed her blade forward, forcing the hollow to slide back.

Rukia looked over her shoulder at Ichigo. "Hurry up you lazy fool! We need to get this thing before it hurts someone!" Then she looked toward Kanonji. "You! Get out of the way!"

Don Kanonji looked at her, completely taken aback. "But-but, my dear. That's impossible!"

"Huh?" Rukia was now confused. Why wouldn't this idiot get out of the way? "Why?"

"Because…," he said. "I am a hero!" Rukia and Ichigo (who had just come up) stared at the crazy man standing in front of them.

Another shriek came from behind them. They turned to see the hollow charging at them again. This time Ichigo came out in front and came across with his zanpaku-to. His slash created a scratch across his face, but it was not enough to break the mask.

Screaming out in agony at the wound that it had just received, the hollow launched back. Taking the opportunity, Ichigo ran towards the hollow again. But, just as he was bring down his blade, the hollow shot some sticky stuff out from its mouth, which hit Ichigo's hands, causing them to stick to the hilt. Even though his hands were stuck, Ichigo still brought down the sword to slash another cut across its mask, this time forcing the hollow to fly back and crash into the hospital building. Gasps could be heard from the crowd as one of the walls of the hospital was smashed by an invisible force.

Rukia ran up alongside Ichigo. "Can you move your hands at all?" Ichigo shook his head. "Okay, than look I think I might have a plan, but, we're going to have to do this quick and get a deep enough cut into his mask." Ichigo nodded as she explained it to him.

Two hundred feet away, the hollow was standing up again. It let out yet another scream and started running again towards the ones who had damaged his mask.

As the hollow came at them once again, Ichigo prepared himself, trying to gather as much spiritual pressure as he could, focusing it into his zanpaku-to. Then lunging forward, he brought the sword across, aiming for the bottom portion of the mask. Then coming up from behind him, Rukia jumped up over his head, crashing her sword through the upper half of the mask.

The hollow's mask shattered. As it fell to the ground, Ichigo looked down at his hands as the sticky goo, hardened and then cracked and broke into pieces.

"You did it!" shouted Kanonji. Ichigo and Rukia spun around to who was smiling and clapping his hands. When they didn't respond, he stopped and looked at them. "What's wrong? You did it! You defeated the monster! Why aren't you two happy?"

Ichigo was the one who answered. "It's not a monster, it's a hollow." Kanonji watched, shocked as the hollow before him stared fading away showing the face of the soul that he had 'cleansed'. "When a soul's chain of fate breaks and a hole opens their chest, the soul becomes a hollow, that creature, you called a monster."

Kanonji looked Ichigo, his eyes wide as he absorbed all of the information. "I-I thought I was freeing them by breaking those chains." He looked like he was about to cry.

"Hey, this is no time to cry," said Rukia sternly. Then her voice changed to one more amused. "Come on _hero_" she waved her hand towards the cheering crowd "your public awaits."

Don Kanonji turned toward the crowd and smiled. "Thank you," he whispered to Ichigo and Rukia. Then he turned back to his fans and cried, "BOHAHAHAHA!!"

Ichigo and Rukia watched, shaking their heads in wonder at the odd spiritualist. Then Ichigo started looking around, searching. "Hey...umm…Rukia? Where are Chappy and Kon?"

Rukia's head snapped up and unsuccessfully searched through the crowd for the two troublesome souls.

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other. "Damn it!"

* * *

He approached the door and knocked, a quiet 'Come in' came from the other side before he opened the door to allow him into the office. The man was sitting at his desk doing paper work as usual.

"Umm…excuse me, sir, but I was told that everyone was to receive a copy of this." He held up a stack of papers, placing them down on the desk.

He didn't even look up from his work. "And this is?"

"It's an update on the students who are currently attending the academy, sir."

The man at his desk nodded, not really giving much attention. "Oh? Is there anyone promising?"

"Actually, there are some students who look very promising. In fact, two of them defeated a hollow during their semester practical. I suggest that you take a look at them."

"Very well, I will look at it later."

"Umm…I was also told to inform you that they have bios on each of the students including their grades, record, and a photo ID."

He nodded his head again in response. "Is there anything else that you need to tell me?"

"No sir."

"Alright, you may leave."

He bowed. "Of course, Kuchiki-taicho."

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**PLEASE REVIEW!!! I really want to hear your comments. **

**With this chapter I really shortened the whole Don Kanonji thing because I figure that all of you have already know what's going on so I just changed a few things and shortened it. I wanted to just let you know that because I will probably be doing that with other chapters in the future.**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	9. Renji vs Ichigo: Jealousy

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and because of that I don't think I have to put this in every chapter, so if you will please note that this disclaimer applies to all of the upcoming chapters._**

Renji was in a bad mood. There was really no other way to describe it. Actually it had been like this for the past month. The reason? That stupid orange head was now in his class. On the plus side, Rukia was in his class too, but according to Renji she was spending way too much time with that Ichigo.

Renji saw them together all the time: doing homework, practicing, or even just sitting out on the lawn talking. It was true that they spent most of their time arguing, but still, _he _was still with her.

And it wasn't just outside of class, but during class too. Sometimes he would see them talking during a particularly boring lecture (or sometimes Rukia drawing while Ichigo criticized her). And the problem was Renji was too far away to do anything about it. Also in the training room, even he was forced to admit that their teamwork was good. They just seemed to know where to go and what the other would do.

He hated it. Why did Rukia seem so distant? Why did she seem to be slipping away so fast? And why the hell was she so close to that idiot? They had grown up together! They knew each other better than anyone else. Actually…now that he thought about it, they hadn't really spoken much all year.

And now that year was rapidly coming to an end. In month they would be taking their final exams and if all went well they would be graduating shortly after that and taking their places in their assigned companies.

Renji grumbled as he walked down the hall, glaring at anyone who would dare look at him.

"Hey Renji!" came a voice. Renji's head snapped up to see who dared to bother him.

Seeing him finally look up, Izuru walked up to his friend. "Renji! Wanna-" but he stopped when he noticed the deadly look on Renji's face. "What wrong?" Renji just glared. "What? Is Ichigo getting on your nerves again?" But, Izuru already knew the answer to his question.

Izuru let out a sigh. He was probably the only one who knew how Renji felt; they had been living with each other for the past year. "You know, I just saw Rukia a few minutes ago talking to Momo," Renji didn't seem to respond. "And Ichigo was nowhere in sight."

That made Renji start. The anger immediately washed away from his face as a more hopeful one took its place. "Where?" he asked.

Izuru pointed in the direction he had come from. "Down the hall and to the right."

"Thanks!" Renji shouted over his shoulder as he ran down the corridor.

When he rounded the corner he immediately spotted her at the other end waving good-bye to Momo. He kept running, hoping that she wouldn't go too far.

"Rukia!" She didn't seem to hear him. "RUKIA!!"

Startled Rukia spun around with a confused look on her face as she spotted Renji coming towards her.

He finally stopped right in front of her. "Hey Rukia!"

Rukia gave him an unsure smile in return. "Hi Renji. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I…um, uh…I had just spotted you and, uh, we haven't really seen each other in a while…"

"But, I just saw you an hour ago in class." Rukia didn't get where he was going with this.

"That's not what I meant." He let out a frustrated sigh. Why didn't she look so happy to see him? "I meant…well we haven't really talked in awhile and I was wonder if you wanted to, you know, maybe catch up."

Rukia's face relaxed as the confusion faded from her face, though Renji was being kind of random. "Sure! When would you like to meet?"

Renji's smile grew even wider at her reaction. "How about now?"

"I would, but Momo, Orihime, Tatsuki and I were going to go to Rukongai this afternoon for lunch."

"Well than…what about tomorrow after classes?"

"Sorry, but usually after classes Ichigo and I practice. Final exams are coming soon so we need to practice as much as much as we can." Renji's face darkened at the mention of Ichigo's name; Rukia didn't seem to notice.

"What about tomorrow night then?"

"I don't think I can. Ichigo is forcing me to read one of his books. What was the name? Shakespeare? I don't know, but Ichigo says that it's really good and he's been trying to convince me to read it for a while now." She laughed lightly to herself as if she was remembering something that Renji was obviously not a part of.

"The weekend?" asked Renji who was praying that a trend wasn't forming.

"Ichigo and I are going to visit some friends in Rukongai."

"Then when can we get together!?!" Renji's anger was starting to build again.

"I'm really sorry!" said Rukia sounding distressed. "But, I am really busy and already have plans. I'm not trying to avoid you! Really I'm not!"

"Of course not!" said Renji sarcastically. "You're just too busy with your boyfriend."

Rukia immediately went on the defensive. "He is not my boyfriend!" Renji snorted in disbelief.

_What's his problem? I haven't talked to him in months and then he just suddenly shows up and expects me to go along? _

Rukia's anger flared, but before she could continue Renji turned around and stormed away.

"Hey! Wait, Renji!" But, he was already gone.

Renji stomped down the hall, not really paying attention to where he was going. He was boiling. No, Rukia wasn't slipping away, she was already gone. All because of that stupid, good for nothing-

Suddenly he spotted a flash of orange out of the corner of his eye. He spun around just in time to see the one who was the source of his anger slip into the training room. With his mind clouded with anger, Renji followed.

When he entered the room, Renji saw Ichigo taking out his zanpaku-to.

"What do you want?" asked an annoyed Ichigo, spotting Renji. Ichigo hoped that he didn't want to use the training room too. Besides the guy really annoyed him; he was always glaring at him.

Renji didn't respond, he just kept looking at him, analyzing him. He didn't look that strong.

Ichigo was getting annoyed. "Hey! I said-"

"I know what you said idiot," said Renji. Then he allowed a smirk to form on his face.

Renji reached toward his zanpaku-to and started to draw it. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Ichigo eyed him watching as he pulled out his sword and held it out in front of himself. He looked like he was going to-

Then without warning Renji lunged forward bring his zanpaku-to across from the left.

Relying on his reaction speed, Ichigo brought up his own zanpaku-to defensively in front of himself, just blocking Renji's incoming attack. Renji's glare deepened in frustration. He brought back his zanpaku-to this time planning to bring it down on Ichigo's head.

Seeing what the red head was planning and being more prepared this time, Ichigo easily dodged the incoming strike, bringing his sword down on an angle toward Renji's shoulder.

Finding that his move was unsuccessful, Renji jumped back in order to evade Ichigo's zanpaku-to. When he stepped back in order recalculated his plan of attack, he felt a pain enter his right shoulder.

_Damn that lucky bastard had actually been able to draw blood. _

Furious, Renji charged in, yelling as he brought his sword down once again. Taken by surprise, Ichigo was unable to move out of the way this time and ended up with a long cut down his arm.

"Shit," Ichigo swore as the blood started running down his arm. Renji smirked and came in for another attack.

Not wanting to take any more damage, Ichigo charged in to meet Renji's blade. When the two swords clashed Ichigo didn't stop, instead he brought his leg up and sent a kick into Renji's stomach.

Renji went flying back into the wall, the wind completely knocked out of him. He was breathing heavily as he tried to stand again.

Seeing that the kick hadn't knocked him out, Ichigo ran towards Renji for a second attack.

With anger still boiling inside of him, driving his body forward, Renji reached out and met Ichigo's blade with his bare hand. He then pulled the surprised Ichigo forward causing him to fall out of balance. Using this opening, Renji brought his blade across once again, this time creating a huge gash across his opponent's chest.

Ichigo's eyes went wide as the pain hit him, spreading throughout his body. He could feel his now heavy body falling toward the ground.

As he fell, Renji pulled Ichigo's zanpaku-to out of his weak grasp and tossed it to the other side of the room. A smile of victory crossed his face as he looked down at his fallen opponent.

"And here I thought you would put up more of a fight," said Renji.

Ichigo muttered something.

"Sorry. What was that?"

Renji was suddenly taken aback as Ichigo's spiritual pressure started rapidly increasing. Ichigo lifted his upper body up, supporting it on one arm while he held the other out in front of him.

Ichigo gave Renji a smirk. "I said…HADO 31!! SHAKKAHO!!"

Renji watched in shock, unable to move, as a huge fire blast shot out from Ichigo's out stretched arm, aimed directly at him. Renji was hit by the blast and was once again thrown backwards into the wall.

On the other side of the room Ichigo was lifting himself back into a standing position and then quickly ran over to grab his sword where Renji had thrown it. He looked across to see Renji, whose clothing was now charred and his skin now burned, standing up to face him again.

Both of them held their sword out in front of them and with a yell they charged toward each other, picking up speed as they went.

"WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING!!?"

Ichigo and Renji froze, only a foot apart, before they slowly turned toward the door. Rukia was standing there with her hands on her hips glaring at the two who were frozen in the middle of the room.

Rukia stomped over to where the two were standing and turned to Renji first. "So is this what you do when you get pissed off?" She gave a quick glance at Ichigo's wounds. "What the hell is your problem?"

Renji finally came out of his stupor. "It's none of your damned business!" Rukia gave him a look before turning to Ichigo.

"And you! Don't you ever think! Or are you really that stupid!" she shouted.

Ichigo glared at her. "Why the hell are you yelling at me? This guy just came in and attacked me!"

"Look at yourself!" she yelled back. "If you haven't noticed, you're bleeding and I can't heal absolutely every single wound you receive!"

"I never asked you too!"

Renji breathed heavily, as he watched the start getting into yet another meaningless fight. He found that this would probably be the best time to sneak out.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!" yelled Rukia, who had easily seen Renji trying to leave.

Renji, who was now at the door, turned back to face her. "I was leaving, I have no business here."

"What!?!" This time it was Ichigo. "So you just come here, randomly attack me, and then just leave?!? I wouldn't mind some sort of explanation!!" But, Renji just ignored him and left.

Rukia watched him go for a second before spinning around to face Ichigo again.

"Come here let me see those cuts." Rukia reached forward to remove the cloth that was covering the damaged skin.

Ichigo pulled back. "I'm fine! Really! Don't waste your energy on me! I'll just get this fix at the infirmary. Besides I thought you were going to Rukongai this afternoon."

"I was, but then I felt your spiritual pressure drop and rushed over just as it started building."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? So you were worried about me?"

Rukia's cheeks were tinted red as she tried to glare at him. "Why would I care?" Ichigo shrugged. "Now come on let's get you to the infirmary before you bleed to death."

"I like I said you're worried."

"No I'm not!"

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**PLEASE REVIEW! I would really like to know what you think of the chapter. I know it's not the best, but I would really like to hear your comments (though please don't be too harsh!)**

**Does anyone think that I am taking this story at too fast a pase? I don't know- they are going to be graduating very soon and I feel like I should have put more in about their time at the Academy, but at the same time I don't want to bore you and there are other things that I want to get to.**

**Also, I don't think I mentioned it (though you have probably already figured it out) but their zanpaku-tos are just the normal first stage blades, they wouldn't find out the names of their swords until a little later after they graduate. I did that because when Ichigo was going through Soul Society a bunch of the Shinigami seemed really weak and I was unsure if they needed to know that to graduate. Plus, it went along with how Ichigo doesn't learn the name of his zanpaku-to until he has to save Rukia.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed for Chapter 8!**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	10. From the Past

Rukia jumped as her alarm clock blared in her ear. She quickly reached over and turned it off before slowly climbing out of bed. She then quickly changed and brushed her hair as she started to fully wake up. Rukia glanced at her clock which said that it was six forty-five in the morning.

_I had better get going._

She grabbed her belongings and then quietly snuck out of the room trying not to disturb the still sleeping Momo. After successfully leaving the room she hurried down the hall and knocked on Ichigo's door.

"Just a minute," came a low voice from within. Rukia waited and after a while Ichigo emerged carrying his zanpaku-to.

"All set?" Rukia asked as she looked him over. Overall Ichigo looked the same as he did every day, except that his ever present frown was more deeply set and he wasn't talking as much as usual. Normally, he would have already started up some argument with her. She wasn't worried, not really. The only thing was that he was like this all day yesterday too.

"Yeah." His answer was short and as they walked across the grounds he kept his face down, not making conversation with the girl walking next to him.

Getting a little frustrated that he was walking so darned slow Rukia spoke up. "Come on Ichigo! I don't want to be late for our final exam!"

"Yeah, yeah," he said slowly picking up his speed in order to please her.

When they finally reached the door and entered, their sensei looked up from his work and beckoned them forward. He gave them a small smile. "How are you two doing today? Are you ready for the exam?" Rukia nodded. "Ichigo?"

"Umm…actually, would it be at all possible to reschedule the exam for another day?" Both the sensei and Rukia looked at him in surprise.

"No, sorry, but there is absolutely no way that it can be rescheduled," he said. Ichigo sighed as if he really didn't expect to get a positive answer anyway. Rukia looked at him with a frown on her face.

"Now to continue," the sensei said as he rose from his seat. "For your final exam, you will be going to the world of the living as you know and will be assigned to a higher level hollow. One of the reasons we can't reschedule is because we have just gotten information about the hollow and where he will be and we don't know how long it will be around so we must act quickly." He walked around his desk to stand in front of them. "All of the information has been sent to your cell phone. Now if you'll excuse me I have a class that I need to prepare for."

Ichigo and Rukia followed him out and headed to the spirit portal.

* * *

When they entered the world of the living Rukia pulled out the cell phone and lead them to the location where the hollow was suppose to show. They followed it to a graveyard that was sitting on a tall hill. Ichigo and Rukia landed on a tree branch that hung right above the wall of the cemetery.

As they searched the area, keeping their eyes peeled for the hollow, Ichigo turned to Rukia. "So, where are we this time?"

Rukia looked at the cell phone to double check. "Actually, it's the same town as before, Karakura, though more specifically, Karakura Cemetery." Rukia glanced over to see Ichigo's surprised reaction.

Ichigo broke eye contact with and looked around the cemetery once again, this time, as if he was looking for something in particular.

"What is it?" asked Rukia. Ichigo didn't answer her. "What's been the matter with you lately?"

He ignored her question. "I'll be right back." And with that he jumped off the tree branch and on to the nearest gravestone.

"Wait Ichigo!" yelled Rukia. "Where are you going? That hollow could show up any minute!" When it became obvious that he wasn't listening to her, she gave up and followed him.

Rukia hurried after him, jumping from gravestone to gravestone until she finally saw that Ichigo had stopped. Rukia hopped up and landed right next to him on the top of the wall. Ichigo was standing next to a tree, hidden in the shadows.

"What is your problem!?" Rukia hissed. But, Ichigo still wasn't paying attention; instead he was looking down at the graves below him. Rukia let out a huff before following his line of sight down to a small family praying in front of the closest grave stones.

Rukia jumped when the father suddenly stood up and shouted, "IT"S TIME FOR THE ANNUAL 'KUROSAKI FAMILY TOMBSTONE DOMINOES TOURNAMENT'!!!" Rukia blinked. The man had said 'Kurosaki.' She glanced over to look at Ichigo, who was completely absorbed in watching the people standing below them.

"A FULL TWO AND A HALF HOURS OF TOMBSTONE DOMINOES AND EMBARESSING FAMILY FUN!!" The man continued and with that he dragged the two complaining girls off to a different part of the cemetery.

Ichigo watched them go, never once taking his eyes off of them. Once they had disappeared from view he leaped down and landed where the family was originally standing. He turned and looked at the graves standing in front of him.

Rukia paused for a moment before jumping down and landing next to him. She looked at the gravestones that had captured Ichigo's attention. Rukia's eyes widened at the 'Masaki Kurosaki' neatly written on the one to the left. She quickly glanced at Ichigo who was looking solemnly at the grave.

When she looked at the grave to the right she let out an audible gasp. There written in the stone was the name 'Ichigo Kurosaki'. Rukia fidgeted and then turned to look at Ichigo.

"Ichigo…" she started slowly.

"Yeah that's me," Ichigo said as if reading her thoughts. "And that's my mom."

"Ichigo?" Rukia questioned. She looked at him. His face wasn't really frowning anymore. Actually, he almost looked sad…

Rukia was taken aback. She had never seen Ichigo show this much emotion before. When she looked at him, she could see the pain in his eyes. Suddenly, Rukia felt really bad. She had never known her family, she had been too young. She couldn't sympathize with him; she didn't know the pain he was feeling. All she knew was that it hurt her to see the pain and sadness that was hurting him now.

Suddenly Ichigo spoke, his voice quiet and unsure. "Today is the anniversary of my death- my mom's death." Suddenly his unusual behavior was starting to make sense. "It was raining…and my mom was walking me home from karate that night." He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. "I'd always been able to see ghosts when I was alive and that night I saw one standing at the edge of the bridge on that cold rainy night. I have always wanted to protect people, my dad once told me that my name meant 'one who protects' and so I tried to save that girl."

Ichigo took a deep breath. "I remember running across the street toward the spirit and reaching out to pull her away from the edge, but after that everything went black." He stopped. Rukia gave him an encouraging look. "Wh-when I woke up, it was still raining…b-but, my mother never woke. She was lying on top of me, bleeding, and at that time she had already died."

"Ichigo…" whispered Rukia. Neither of them noticed the clouds that started to roll in and the sky starting to get darker.

"I vaguely, remember the bright lights of the ambulance and being rushed to the hospital, but it didn't matter because I ended up dying only a few hours after my mother." He was breathing heavily now. "When I did finally wake up I found myself on the river bank where my mom died- I was ghost. I spent days after that wandering the bank, looking for her, but I never found her. When a Shinigami finally came to take me to Soul Society he told me about hollows and that my mother had been eaten by the hollow that attacked us."

Ichigo's fists tightened in anger. "My mom had died to protect me and I couldn't do anything to save her."

"What could you have done?"asked Rukia. Ichigo shook his head and let out a deep sigh. Rukia thought for a moment. "So those people we saw just now…"

"Yeah that was my Dad and twin sisters, Yuzu and Karin. We ran into them before." Rukia just nodded in response.

They stood there in silence until it was broken by a scream coming from the far reaches of the cemetery. Ichigo and Rukia spun around toward the direction of the scream just as the cell phone started to go off.

"That sounded like Yuzu," whispered Ichigo in horror.

Rukia quickly wiped out the phone and checked. "It's the hollow. Come on!" With that the two of them leaped from their current spot, quickly rushing through the trees in the direction of the danger.

When they came to the clearing they immediately noticed the huge hollow that had its tongue wrapped tightly around Yuzu's neck, while Karin lay on the ground at its feet.

Ichigo wasted no time. He rushed in while drawing his zanpaku-to. Ichigo then sprung forward, bringing his sword down on to the creature's tongue. Then, as she fell, Ichigo caught Yuzu gently in his arms.

On the ground Karin, looked up to see their savior. Her mouth opened in surprise. It was the same guy from before! Karin watched in wonder as he quickly sliced off the incoming arm of the monster that had attacked them, but the only thing she remembered after that was the being picked up by the orange haired boy before soon passing out.

In the mean time, Ichigo took his sisters and leapt away from the hollow, bringing them safely to the side. While he took care of his sisters Rukia charged in, her sword out in front of her, but just as she was getting close the hollow, it used its other arm to push her back forcing Rukia to go flying back against the tree.

"Rukia!" shouted Ichigo as he watched the girl go flying. Ichigo then spun around to face the hollow, bringing his zanpaku-to up once again and examined the hollow standing before him.

Ichigo froze; his eyes wide as he stared at the hollow before him, more specifically the girl that was standing in front of the hollow. She was exactly as he remembered her: short dark hair and a long white coat.

"What the hell?" Ichigo shouted in confusion. Rukia who had was just getting up looked over towards her partner as he addressed the girl. "You! That was you by the river that day! What are you doing here with a hollow?"

"You've seen me before?" questioned the girl in a deep, cold voice.

"Who are you?!" shouted a frustrated Ichigo. "Is that hollow controlling you?"

I frightening smile crept onto the girls face. "Not quite…Sonny."

"What the-?" Ichigo stepped back as he saw the girl's skin suddenly rip apart and fall down her sides leaving a strange doll like object standing there. At the same time a tube like thing shot from the top of it and then attached itself to the top of the hollow's head. "What is that!? That girl is a part of you?!"

"It's called the Grand Fisher." Ichigo spun around to see Rukia, who was now reading the incoming information from her phone. "That's the name of the hollow that you and I are assigned to. The bait decoy that sprouts from his head disguises itself as a person and he goes after those who see it. He's managed to avoid the Shinigami for over 54 years." Rukia stepped forward to stand next to Ichigo; her face set as she stared the hollow down.

Ichigo looked down at Rukia, trying to take in the information that she was giving him. _T-then that means that I fell into his trap all those years ago. _Ichigo's face darkened with anger as he clenched his fists. _Mom…_

Suddenly the Grand Fisher attacked, breaking Ichigo from his thoughts. In response Ichigo held up his zanpaku-to once again and charged forward to meet the hollow.

"Ichigo!" shouted Rukia watching the two race toward each other. Ichigo brought up his sword and swung it down. Unfortunately, the hollow was too fast as was easily evade the attack. But, this did not slow down Ichigo, he immediately brought his zanpaku-to up again and ran in the direction of the hollow.

"Stop being reckless, you idiot!" Rukia yelled, but Ichigo ignored her. Rukia growled in frustration as the Grand Fisher stretched an arm dangerously out toward Ichigo. Then seeing that he was in trouble Rukia quickly raised her hands for a kido spell.

As she started to recite the incantation, the Grand Fisher, sensing her, turned and sent his arm flying towards her instead.

"RUKIA, NO!!!" Ichigo panicked when he saw Rukia once again flying through the air to crash into the ground only feet from where his sisters were sleeping. He immediately rushed over to her side just as she was starting to recover.

With a shaky hand Ichigo reached up to touch the bleeding cut that had formed on her head. Rukia's eyes fluttered open to see Ichigo with a very pained look on his face as he slowly poured some of his spiritual energy into the wound in order to heal it.

"Ichigo…?" She was still a little dazed.

"Look, Rukia you need to get out of here." That made Rukia jump up.

"What!!? Are you kidding me!?!" Rukia yelled as she fully sat up to face him.

"Listen! Rukia! I need you to go and get my sisters out of here and bring them to the temple at the bottom of the hill."

"Then what about you!" screamed Rukia. "There is no way that you can take that thing on by yourself!"

"Please Rukia! Just go!" Ichigo stood up and turned to face the hollow that was now retracting its claws, preparing for another attack. "Please…this one's personal."

Rukia gave Ichigo one last look before quickly turning around, picking up his sisters and running down the hill.

_I'll take care of your sisters. But, please Ichigo…don't die._

When Rukia had safely left, Ichigo once again turned and charged toward the Grand Fisher. When he came close the hollow shot his hand out towards Ichigo again who at last second got out of the way. Ichigo then swung his sword in the direction of the hollow only to find air.

"Too slow, Sonny," came the Grand Fisher's eerie voice from behind him.

Realizing that the hollow had somehow gotten on the other side of him, Ichigo spun around to bring his zanpaku-to into the fishers thick hide, but unfortunately, the hollow had other plans.

When Ichigo turned around the Grand fisher easily grabbed his sword with his large hand as his fingers shot out and dug themselves deep into the boy's skin.

Ichigo's eyes opened wide as the creature's fingers pierced his body. The pain hit him causing him to become temporarily dizzy. He coughed and blood came out of his mouth.

The hollow was laughing. "So reckless… In a fit of rage, you sent away your allies and threw yourself at me blindly…You played right into my hands. Now you'll die without even having wounded me."

"NO!! You're wrong!" yelled Ichigo suddenly getting a burst of energy. "I'm going to kill you!"

The Grand Fisher laughed at the boy standing in front of him as he reached over and grabbed the head of his decoy doll. "It's all over Sonny! You were no match of me!" When the hollow removed his hand, Ichigo's eyes widened in horror to see the face of his mother.

The hollow laughed again. "From the expression on your face, I'd say that you're upset!"

Ichigo began breathing heavily, starting to feel the effects of his wounds. He couldn't move, he couldn't attack, all he could do was stare at the face he hadn't seen in a long time.

* * *

Rukia rushed back, but she stopped short when she saw the scene in front of her. The Grand Fisher had successfully hurt Ichigo by first distracting him with the doll and then forcing his hand not only through the doll, but Ichigo's stomach too.

Rukia froze. Her hands were shaking. There was blood everywhere and she knew exactly who it belonged to. She needed to do something! Anything! _Come on move!_

But, before Rukia could react, Ichigo once again brought up his sword, this time successfully wounding the unaware hollow.

"I finally got you!" Rukia looked to see Ichigo face become more determined as his spiritual pressure steadily started to increase just when it started to rain.

* * *

"GRAAAAAAAAAA!" The Grand Fisher cried out in agony. He pulled back as he fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the place where his arm use to be.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled finally getting his attention.

Tired and wet and using his zanpaku-to for support, Ichigo turned towards Rukia. "Hey Rukia," he said casually, as the blood poured from his wounds. "What took you?"

"Idiot!" said Rukia as a faint smile played on her lips. She was so relieved that he was still alive- even if it was by a small margin.

As she approached Ichigo, the Grand Fisher started to move again, sending the tube like thing out of his head.

"ICHIGO!!" Rukia screamed in warning as the thing shot straight towards his face. She knew that Ichigo was too injured to move, so she immediately reacted, pulling out her sword and stepping in between the hollow and Ichigo.

Ichigo was surprised to see Rukia jump in front of him preventing the Grand Fisher's attack. She then held out her hands and shouted. "HADO 33!! SOKATSUI!!" A blast of blue flames shot from her hand hitting the hollow straight on.

Both Ichigo and Rukia watched as the Grand Fisher started to dissolve as it screamed. Behind them the doll also disappeared leaving Ichigo and Rukia alone in the rain.

"Sorry for cutting in at the end, but you wouldn't-" With the threat finally gone it seemed like Ichigo's body had decided that there was no need to stand anymore. Seeing him fall, Rukia stepped out to catch him and then slowly helped him lay down so that his head was resting in her lap.

As she healed him, his breathing started to calm down until was almost back to normal. "Don't worry about it," Ichigo said in reply to what she had said.

"What!" Rukia exclaimed. "But, you wanted me to stay out of it!"

Ichigo opened his eyes to look up at her with a small smile on his face. "You thought I was serious?"

"Humph! Idiot!" With a small laugh Ichigo closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep.

Rukia looked down at the boy sleeping on her lap; she smiled to see his face much more peaceful without the angry frown lines.

_Thank you Ichigo. Thank you for not dying. _

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**PLEASE REVIEW!! I would like to know what you thought of the chapter, hopefully it turned out okay and there weren't to may errors! Sorry if there were (though I think I got most of them)**

**A big thanks to all the people who reviewed Chapter 9!**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	11. Kuchiki

"Are you sure it's her?"

"Yes. I have looked over everything and there is no doubt that it is her."

"Then are you sure are you sure about this? Isn't she going to be accepted into the Gotei 13 soon? Won't that put her in danger?"

"Yes, but I have already settled that problem."

"Oh?"

"I have talked with Jushiro and he is more than willing to accept her into his company. She will not come to any harm and I've already talked to Jushiro."

"When are you going to meet her?"

* * *

"Congratulations Rukia!" Momo ran up to the surprised girl with a hug. "I heard you passed!"

"Thanks Momo. And congratulations to you too!" Rukia said trying to break out of Momo's tight hold.

Momo stood back with a smile. "Thanks." Then the door opened to reveal their two friends.

"Hey Rukia! Congratulations!" said Tatsuki. "We heard you passed."

"Yeah!! Congratulations!" Orihime stepped toward the girl with a package in her hands. "Here," she said holding her arms toward Rukia. "I made you some cookies! Guess what the secret ingredient is!"

"What?" Rukia asked nervously as she accepted the platter.

"Leeks!" Orihime cried excitedly.

"Oh…um….thanks," replied Rukia as Tatsuki and Momo looked at the cookies nervously. "Orihime, when are you going to take your final exam?"

"I'm taking it at the end of the week!" said Orihime cheerily. "But, Tatsuki already took hers."

Rukia and Momo turned their heads to look at Tatsuki. "Yeah, I took it yesterday, but I don't get my results back until the end of the week."

"Yeah, but we already know you passed," said Momo with a knowing smile. "Probably the best in your class."

"No, not the best," replied Tatsuki. "I'm pretty sure that Chad did better than me." She looked to address Rukia. "So, how did your test go? I heard you got stuck with a really tough hollow."

"Yeah," replied Rukia not really elaborating. "We had to get this hollow called the Grand Fisher." She didn't mention its relationship with Ichigo.

"You're so lucky!" said Orihime. Everyone turned to give her an odd look. Why would it be lucky being assigned to something that could potentially kill you? "You got to be partnered with Ichigo! I would love to be partnered up with him!" She had a huge smile on her face and was looking out into the distance, daydreaming.

Tatsuki laughed. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you aren't a shinigami, let alone in the same company! I mean, even Rukia isn't going to be with him after they graduate."

Something inside Rukia jumped at that comment. She hadn't thought about that. But, in reality it was true. In a week they would be assigned to their companies and it was most likely that they wouldn't end up in the same one.

"Though speaking of companies," continued Tatsuki. "Which one do you think you'll be in?"

"I don't know," replied Rukia. "We haven't really heard our assignments yet."

"Yeah I know, but what do you think? You too Momo."

Momo jumped at the mention of her name and blushed. "Um…well, I wouldn't mind being in the fifth company...Aizen-taicho is really nice."

"See," said Tatsuki triumphantly. "Momo knows where she's going."

"Yeah, but still, I don't really know many of the captains and their companies." Rukia sighed she didn't really care what company she ended up in -not that they had a choice anyway. Though it would be weird working with a bunch of strangers; she had become use to working with Ichigo.

Rukia glanced over to the clock. "Sorry you guys, but I need to go."

"Huh?" Her friends looked at her confused. "Where?"

"Uh…sensei wanted to see me about something," answered Rukia. "though I don't know why."

Momo laughed. "Maybe you got some special award for doing so well."

"I doubt it," said Rukia. "I'm not the best in the class."

"You aren't?" Orihime looked confused. "Then who is better than you?"

"Well, for one Ichigo-" started Rukia.

"Really?"" interrupted Tatsuki with an amused smile on her face. "Should I tell him you said that?"

"No!" Rukia said immediately.

"No, he isn't better than you, or no, I shouldn't tell him?"

"Shut up Tatsuki," Rukia grumbled. "It's not that he's necessarily that he's _better_, but power wise he is defiantly stronger. Now I need to go. I'll see you guys later."

* * *

Rukia entered the office and walked over to where the teacher was working. The sensei looked up from her work to see the visitor. "Ah! Rukia you're here. Good." The sensei stood up and walked toward the door, motioning for Rukia to follow her. "Come."

Confused, yet curious, Rukia followed her teacher out of the office and down the hall where they entered one of the larger spare rooms on the right.

For the most part the room was bare, with the exception of the small group of people standing in the middle. There were four of them, two of which were flanking the others. Rukia supposed them to be guards compared to the two important looking ones in the middle. The shorter of the two was much older with round glasses and with a shawl around his shoulders.

The last man was the most intriguing. He stood tall and straight, his face set still, his eyes piercing as they examined her. His dark hair fell to his shoulders with the exception of the strands that were used in the kenseikan hair piece. Seeing this, Rukia put together that he was some sort of noble and coat that was draped around his shoulders told her he was a captain.

Rukia shrank back slightly at the sight of these important people. What could they was with her?

She turned towards her sensei who bowed towards the man in the middle. "Kuchiki-taicho, I'll leave her to you." And with that the she turned and left leaving Rukia alone to face these strange men on her own.

Rukia turned back to look at the most distinct man in the middle that her sensei had referred to as 'Kuchiki-taicho'. As she met his eyes she immediately detected his spiritual pressure. Inwardly she gasped as her eyes went wide and her legs involuntarily shook.

Finally, the captain broke his gaze and addressed her. "What is your name?" His voice was quiet and cold, commanding the attention of everyone who could hear.

"R-rukia," she replied unsteadily.

"Rukia," he repeated as if testing out the new word. "Do you have a family name?"

It wasn't a question, it was a demand.

"I don't have one…sir," she answered. She didn't think her friends counted as family, though sometimes they felt that way.

"I see." It sounded like he had expected her answer. "Well then, my name is Byakuya Kuchiki, head of the Kuchiki clan and captain of the sixth company."

Rukia nodded her head in response. What else could she do?

"I heard about you through the student reports that are sent to the captains." Rukia nodded again, more slowly trying to see where he was going with this. "It was strange as you look very much like my late wife, Hisana Kuchiki." Then men standing next to him nodded in agreement. "For this reason, we would like to adopt you into the Kuchiki family."

The world suddenly stopped. Rukia froze in place, not daring to believe what she had heard him say. One of the most powerful families in the Seireitei wanted to adopt _her_?

"W-w-what…I-I..." Rukia stuttered trying to form some sort of coherent words.

"Of course you may still become a shinigami. I have even made arrangements for you to join the thirteenth company." His voice was devoid of feel and seemed indifferent.

"I-uh…" So many things were being thrown at her at once. She was still trying to get over the adoption proposal.

"And of course, after you graduate you will move into the Kuchiki manor." He acted as if she had already agreed.

"Umm…Thank you very much Kuchiki-taicho," Rukia began. "But, I don't know. I'm really not a noble at all."

"That's not a problem," Kuchiki-taicho replied, easily solving the problem. "You will have some instruction."

Rukia thought for a moment. Her? A noble? She really couldn't see that. "Uh…sir, may I ask you a question?" He didn't answer, so she took that as a yes. "What about my friends? Will I be able to see them?"

The intimidating captain gave her an odd look- the first sign of emotion he had showed so far. "…Well I don't really know how much you will see them between your duties as a shinigami and noble."

"Duties as a noble?!" Rukia squeaked. She could feel the nervousness growing in her stomach.

"Of course there will be things that you will become responsible for."

"Oh," was all she could say in reply.

Suddenly the door slammed open loudly and the group turned around to see a tall red head enter the room, with a bright smile on his face.

"Hey Rukia I-" Renji was about to continue, but he stopped, smile frozen in place, when he noticed the important looking people standing next Rukia.

The old man was the one to break the silence. "It seems we've been interrupted." He almost seemed to be glaring at Renji for interrupting. He turned to face Rukia. "Very well…We hope you accept our proposal."

The group of four then turned and walked out the door. Rukia let out a breath that she hadn't known she was holding.

Rukia turned to the figure that was standing in the door way, still frozen from the force of the nobles' spiritual pressure. She was surprised that he was here, from what she had briefly heard, he had been looking for her.

Her brain turned back to the conversation she had just had. Should she agree? She was clueless. Yes, it was true that a part of her had always wanted to be a part of a family, but... She blinked again and looked at Renji.

Yes, that was right. She did have a family. It hadn't been too long ago when she, Renji and their other friends were living together. They had been a family, they cared and watched out for each other. They had to live through what most normal families did not.

Rukia gave Renji another look. If she joined the Kuchiki clan, she would feel like she was giving up her real family. Turning to a world that was far different than anything she had ever known. Surely they wouldn't want that- right?

"Renji…?" Her voice was quiet and unsure.

Her voice brought Renji back to reality. "Oh…Geez, Rukia…That looked intense. What was that about?"

Rukia paused a second and took a deep breath before she spoke. "They said I'm to be adopted into the Kuchiki family." Renji's eyes went wide with surprise. "And they said that when I graduate, they have made arrangements for me to enter the thirteenth company…"

As Rukia spoke, Renji tried to take in all that she was saying. The Kuchiki Family! That was an important family and he knew this would be a wonderful opportunity for her.

"Renji…I don't-"

"Rukia! That's great!"Renji grabbed her shoulders in excitement.

"Huh?" said Rukia, completely taken aback by his response.

"Congratulations! You'll never go hungry again!" He seemed to be working himself up as he went on. "I wonder what aristocrats eat? Aw! You are so lucky! I'm so jealous I can't stand it!"

Rukia's face fell as she felt her heart sink. She came to realize that she didn't want him to be jealous and happy for her. Rukia wanted him to realize that she needed the people around her. She needed her family and right now she felt like she was being abandoned.

"I see…" Rukia fiercely fought back the sadness she was desperately hiding. "Thanks."

And she turned away.

* * *

Rukia slowly trudged down the hall as she had considered her actions. After walking away from Renji, she had gone to catch up with the nobles:

"_Excuse me! Kuchiki-taicho!"_

_The addressed immediately spun around to face her, his cold eyes meeting hers once again. _

_Rukia fidgeted under his hard stare as she tried to get her thoughts together. _

"_Sir, I would like to respond to your proposal."_

"_And your answer?" Still, he seemed completely emotionless._

_Rukia took a deep breath and bowed. "I would be honored to be adopted into your family."_

_When she chanced to look up at the captain she saw that his face had made no change. _

"_Very well," Kuchiki-taicho replied. "I will send for you after your graduation ceremony."_

_Rukia straightened up. "Thank you Kuchiki-taicho," her voice showed an indifference that she didn't feel. She was already starting to act like them: emotionless. _

_The head of the family paused as if briefly considering something."Not 'Kuchiki-taicho' you may call me 'Nii-san'." _

That final word lingered in her head. She had never really had an official brother before, though she had considered Renji and her deceased friends her brothers.

She let out a sigh.

"Hey. What's the matter?"

Rukia was broken from her thoughts by her approaching partner.

"Nothing's wrong," was her immediate response.

"Really?" Ichigo looked at her closely. "Wow. I never noticed that you were constantly miserable."

Rukia snapped. "That's you, idiot!" Though ever since the whole Grand Fisher incident he had been a lot less…angry? Well…he still didn't really smile, but still, he wasn't constantly frowning.

Ichigo laughed at her reaction. That was a little more normal Rukia behavior. "But seriously, what's wrong?"

Rukia sighed. He was going to find out one way or another. "I've been adopted into the Kuchiki family."

Ichigo raised his eyebrows in surprise, though he didn't immediately jump for joy like Renji had "And you don't want to be? What did they force you into it?"

"No, they asked," said Rukia. "But, I don't know…I thought it would be nice to finally have a family…but I also don't want to lose my friends who have almost become my family."

"Oh," Ichigo didn't know how to respond. He knew that Rukia had never known her family and he felt bad that he had that privilege while she didn't. "Well, I guess it's nice that you finally have a family." He paused. "But, you know…if you ever need anything me and your other friends will always be there for you."

The sincerity in his voice made Rukia's heart warm. He was right. "Thanks. But, you know, I'm not going that far. I'm still going to see you every chance I get!" Rukia smiled.

Ichigo returned her smile. "Good. Because I'll hold you to that, even if I have to go to the Kuchiki mansion and get you myself!"

Rukia laughed. She couldn't even image Byakuya's reaction to Ichigo barging into his house just to see her. He would probably have Ichigo arrested.

"Deal."

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**Okay... So what did you think of the chapter? This was a pretty important chapter and I tried to get everything I wanted in it, but I don't know...what do you think? I was also debating leaving out that last part with Ichigo, but something made me keep it in.**

**Fun Fact: The inspiration for my story came from Renji's flashback in book 11 (pretty much this chapter plus the extra ch. in book 15) I was always annoyed with Renji and how he kind of ditched Rukia in school and then abandoned her when she seemed down about the whole adoption thing which is probably the reason I've been kind of hard on him. But, don't worry Renji fans! I don't hate Renji and things will get better for him :) **

**Anyway..PLEASE REVIEW!!! And THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of the people who reviewed for the last chapter!!!!**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	12. Welcome to the Gotei 13

"If you will please sign here Rukia-chan."

Rukia bent down and signed name across the line, officially bringing her into the Kuchiki family.

Byakuya signed his name one final time next to hers before allowing the official to take them away. Once he was gone the captain turned to his new sister.

"I will now show you around the house," said Byakuya, leading the girl off to different parts of the enormous building they were currently in. Rukia just nodded her head in response.

* * *

Izuru nervously walked up to the door and knocked. A soft 'Enter' came from the other side allowing him entrance.

He walked into the office to find a man standing up from his desk. "Welcome, Izuru-kun, to the third division."

Izuru took a closer look at his new captain now that he was closer. The man was tall and lean with light hair that hung just above his small, squinty eyes.

"I am Gin Ichimaru," the man continued, now standing directly in front of his new subordinate. "And I am the captain of this division."

The taicho gave off an eerie feeling, as well as his voice and Izuru had the sudden urge to shudder. But, luckily he was able to resist.

* * *

Orihime entered the room with a cheery smile on her face, excited on her first day. If she wasn't in such a serious place, she would have skipped.

The captain looked up and returned to girl's bright smile. He was tall and with glasses and hair braided back into an interesting style. In addition, he wore a long cape and held a staff in his hand.

"Hello, you must be Orihime Inoue." Said person nodded enthusiastically. "I am Tsukabishi Tessai, your captain. And may I welcome you to the Kido Corps."

* * *

After finally showing her around the house, they walked to the front and Byakuya turned to Rukia. "Now if you'll excuse me I have matters that I must see to." Rukia suddenly became nervous, wondering what she was supposed to do. Byakuya noticed this.

"Now would be a good time for you to meet your new captain. The barracks is that way." Byakuya pointed out the direction. "There you will meet the captain of the thirteenth division."

Then leaving no room for questions he turned around and head towards his own destination.

Rukia looked toward the direction that she was suppose to go, trying to look for a way through the maze of buildings.

_Damn it! Why am I so nervous?_

* * *

Renji was waiting in the white office that he had been shown to. He started fidgeting.

Just as he was wondering where the hell his captain could be, the door opened to reveal the captain of the sixth division that he had seen only a week before.

Renji found himself freezing up at the intimidating presence of the captain.

The taicho past Renji hardly giving him a second look as he walked towards his desk where he started working on a pile of papers before finally addressing the red-head standing in his office.

He looked up at Renji. "I am Byakuya Kuchiki of the sixth company and if you exit from here and go to door on your immediate left you will find the fukutaicho. He will fill you in on what your duties will be."

Renji, finally starting to come around bowed to the captain, who had already gone back to his papers, turned around and left the room.

* * *

"So…what do you think our captain will be like?" said Tatsuki, trying to make some sort of conversation.

Chad just shrugged, he really had no idea. Tatsuki sighed. Typical Chad, always taking the easy way out of talking.

After sitting there for a few more minutes, a small woman with short dark hair approached them. "Are you Tatsuki Arisawa and Yasutora Sado?" They nodded. "Then follow me."

As they followed, the two observed their guide as she spoke. Her hair was short with the exception of the two long braids handing in the back holding a ring on the end of each and was wearing the standard Special Force uniform. Her eyes were piercing and critical and when she spoke, she demanded attention.

"I am Soi Fon, fukutaicho of the second company and the Special Forces. You two will be part of the Special Forces, but understand that the captain is head of both groups and you are to do whatever she says. Got it?" Chad and Tatsuki nodded. "Good."

She opened the double doors to a comfortable room where a woman was sitting at a small messy desk. The woman looked up from her work when the trio entered. She had golden skin and her dark purple hair was pulled back into a pony tail.

"Thank you for bringing them Soi Fon," she said as she stood up and walked around her desk. The fukutaicho bowed and left the room leaving Chad and Tatsuki alone with the captain.

"Welcome, I am Yoruichi Shihoin taicho of the second company and Special Forces." She flashed them a cat-like grin.

* * *

Momo was shaking with excitement as she knocked on the door of her new captain. After getting permission, she opened the door and walked in.

When she entered the room, Momo was greeted with a warm smile from her new captain who was standing there to greet her.

Aizen-taicho walked over to the girl. "We meet again Momo-chan." Momo blushed. He remembered her name! "Welcome to the fifth company. Would you like to sit?"

Momo allowed him to lead her over to the chair that was sitting in front of his desk, before he walked around to the other side to take his own seat.

"I hope you have been well, Momo-chan. We haven't run into anymore trouble have we?" he chuckled at his own joke.

Momo's face went a few shades darker. "No, sir."

"I am very glad to hear it," said Aizen. "Now let's go over your new job."

* * *

Ichigo was waiting outside the captain's office of his new division, waiting to be allowed entrance. He glanced at the door again where he heard muffled talking coming from inside.

His frown deepened as his annoyance grew. It had been over an hour since he came and he really wanted to get this done so he could go and try to find out which company Rukia was in.

Finally, the talking stopped and a weird robotic-like man emerged from the office. Ichigo's face turned from annoyed to puzzled. Hadn't he seen this guy before? He had never been very good with names and faces.

"Ah! Kurosaki-san, please come in! Sorry about the wait!" Ichigo turned to see his captain standing in the doorway ushering him in. Ichigo followed him into the office.

"Welcome to the twelfth company!" said the taicho. "As you might remember from when I visited your class, I am Kisuke Urahara."

"Umm…nice to see you…again." He sort of remembered the man standing in front of him.

"It's a pleasure to see you again too!" Okay this guy was already starting to get on his nerves. "How is the mod soul of yours doing?"

Oh! So that's where he was from! "You're the guy who gave me that stupid substitute soul!" Ichigo accused.

"I'll take it that he is still acting up?" The captain looked like he was about to start laughing.

"Yeah," Ichigo growled as several instances popped into his head.

"Well then, enough about that." Urahara didn't like the look that kid was giving and wanted to veer away from the connection that he could be the source of that problem. "Now, just to let you know, the twelfth company sometimes works along with the Department of Research and Development and even though I am no longer the head, Kurotsuchi-san does a good job- uh…he is the man you saw exit before."

"Oh…," replied Ichigo. "Uh…may I ask why you aren't the head of the department any more? You were the founder right?"

Urahara raised his eyebrows. "Yes, I was the founder and head, but do to an incident some number of years ago; I was forced to step down from the position." Urahara saw the questioning look in his eyes. "But, we'll save that story for another day, shall we?"

Ichigo was still a little curious, but Urahara continue on. "We are very busy hear at the twelfth division, because we have some work that comes from the research department and also we currently do not have a fukutaicho, but their work still needs to get done. But, since you will start off in the lower ranks that may not concern you as much."

"Okay," said Ichigo. Urahara looked at the boy who was fidgeting where he stood. He felt bad that he had made the boy wait so long.

"Alright," said Urahara with a small smile. "You may go; I have some work that I need to get to." Ichigo's face immediately brightened at the news. "Just come back later so that we can so over what it is that you need to do."

"Thanks, Urahara-taicho." Urahara watched Ichigo quickly bow and leave. Once he was gone, Urahara turned towards his desk where he summoned a hell butterfly.

The black butterfly landed on his outstretched hand. "I want you to deliver a message for me in the world of the living to a man named Isshin Kurosaki. Tell him that his son has been accepted into the twelfth company."

Urahara then watched the butterfly take off and fly away.

* * *

The man led her into the office. "Please wait here. The fukutaicho will be with you soon."

"Um…" Rukia stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

Her guide spoke again. "Do you need help with anything?" He gave her a little bow.

Rukia had been afraid of this. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath before answering. "I'm just a new officer." _I'm not really a noble._ "Please treat me like anyone else."

"Of course," the man replied, but Rukia could tell that he was just saying that.

He left and Rukia was forced to wait there by herself. After a few minutes she heard whispers coming from the cracked door.

"_Who's she?"_

"_She's from the Kuchiki family."_

"_Hah! A new pet?"_

"_What rich families do for fun."_

"_I bet she'll be assigned a top seat."_

"_Humph. They have no idea how had we've worked to get here!"_

Every comment felt like a dagger. These people immediately though she was some stuck up noble who had never worked a day in her life. Her posture slackened as her shoulders sunk inward and her eyes became heavy. She so desperately wanted to be strong and act like their loud comments meant nothing, but each one hurt more than the next.

She sighed. _I wish Ichigo was here-_

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a much louder voice spoke. "Hey! What all of you doing here?! This isn't a show!! Get back to work!"

Surprised, Rukia turned towards the door. That had sounded a lot like her old partner. Was it possible that he was in the thirteenth company too? Her heart started to pick up speed.

Rukia was even more shocked when the speaker entered the room. "Ichigo?" she asked, now completely confused. Well, he looked a lot like Ichigo excepted for the dark hair and his face which was absent of a frown.

"Huh? Strawberry?" asked the man who was not Ichigo. "I am Kaien Shiba fukutaicho of the thirteenth company. Pleased to meet you!" the fukutaicho gave her a big welcoming smile.

"Um…Hello," said a still out of it Rukia.

"Huh?" His face immediately fell. "What kind of greeting is that?!" Rukia let out a small yelp when he reached forward and grabbed the top of her head and looked at her in the eye. "I am your superior! You're supposed to say, 'Pleased to meet you, sir!' What's your name?"

"Ah…uh…R-Rukia Kuchiki…" She looked at her new assistant captain with nervousness.

"And?" he said, prompting her to continue.

"P-Pleased to meet you, sir!" Rukia said as she remembered what he had said before.

Rukia was surprised then see him step back, letting go of her head and giving her a smile that would have never been found on his 'twin's' face.

"Good!" he said. "You're okay Rukia! Welcome to the thirteenth company. Our captain's in poor health, so I basically run the show!" The smile on his face only seemed to grow as he pointed to himself. "So it's okay to call me Kaien-taicho by mistake now and again."

"Alright," said Rukia giving him an odd look. It really was strange to see that face smiling so much. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Great!" Kaien said as he led Rukia from the room. "Now if you'll follow me we'll discuss what it is that you will be required to do."

They walked around the barracks as Kaien talked nonstop and not just about the thirteenth company but his family too.

At first Rukia was a little intimidated, but the more he talked the more relaxed she became and thought less and less about the others who had commented on her.

Finally, they reached the door and Rukia turned to bow to the fukutaicho. "Thank you for the tour, sir."

"Not a problem!" Kaien replied happily.

Rukia stood up and was just about to leave when she heard her name coming being called.

"RUKIA!" Kaien, looked up to see where the voice was coming from as Rukia spun around to see Ichigo appear right in front of her.

"Hey!" Ichigo looked out of breath. "I knew I'd find you!"

"Ichigo!" She was surprised to see him hear. Maybe he was better at sensing spiritual pressure than she gave him credit for.

"So this is the strawberry huh?" said Kaien from behind her.

Ichigo looked up to see who had dared call him that. When he looked up the two finally got to look at the other.

"Who the hell are you?!" They shouted in unison. Rukia just looked between the two as they stared the other down.

Kaien was the first to answer. "Kaien Shiba, fukutaicho of the thirteenth company. Who are you?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki, just accepted into the twelfth company."

"Ichigo?" Ichigo knew what was coming next. "Isn't that a girl's name?"

Ichigo glared at the fukutaicho. "It is _not_ just a girl's name."

"Okay, okay," said Kaien defensively. He glanced over towards his newest subordinate. "So you know Rukia?"

Rukia thought she should be the one to speak since Ichigo still looked annoyed. "Ichigo and I just graduated from the academy where we were partnered together."

Kaien's face turned back into a smile. "Really? So you were partnered together for school?" Ichigo and Rukia nodded.

"That's how my wife and I met! You should've told me you had a boyfriend Rukia!" Kaien's smile widened enthusiastically as he looked as the 'couple'.

Ichigo and Rukia both went red as they both spoke at the same time. "We're not together!" They turned to look at each other. Kaien started laughing.

"Um…I'm sorry Kaien-fukutaicho, but Ichigo is not…my boyfriend." Kaien gave Rukia a disbelieving look. "We're just friends."

"Whatever you say," said Kaien looking at their bright red faces. Oh he was going to have a lot of fun teasing them in the future.

Finished for now though, Kaien turned around headed back inside leaving Ichigo and Rukia alone.

They stood there quietly for a few seconds before Rukia spoke up. "So…um…you're in the twelfth company?"

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah."

"So…uh, was there something you wanted to ask me?" Rukia was looking down at her feet still embarrassed.

"No. Not really, I just wanted to find out what company you –and everyone else- had joined."

"What company is everyone else in?" Rukia asked.

"Well I came to see you first, and then I was going to find everyone else," replied Ichigo.

"Can I come with you," said Rukia finally looking up.

Ichigo's face brightened. "Sure. Let's go."

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**Sorry for any typos!**

**1-Okay, I know that really Rukia was supposed to graduate early, but I kind of wanted everyone together so I changed it around a little. **

**2-Also, I know that these weren't the first companies that everyone was assigned to, but for simpiliciy's sake (and I wasn't sure about some) I just put them in the companies that we know them to be in. **

**THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!!!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!! I really want to know what you think about this chapter**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	13. Retaining a Friendship

"Hyaaaa!" yelled Rukia as she lunged in for the attack.

Kaien easily stepped out of the way and shunpoed up behind her.

Rukia quickly spun around in order to block the incoming attack. The swords clashed and Rukia's arm shook as she tried to keep holding back his blade. As she struggled, Rukia brought her other hand up and started chanting a kido spell. Unfortunately, Kaien noticed and reacted quickly by reaching out with his free hand to grab her wrist. He then took a step back and yanked her arm forward to pull her off balance causing her to crash to the ground.

"Come on, Kuchiki. I know you can do better than that," Kaien said as he backed up, giving her room to get up again.

Sore and bruised, Rukia slowly stood up to once again face her teacher. Breathing heavily, she charged forward again. Though this time when their blades met, Rukia didn't stop instead she quickly shunpoed behind him. "HADO 33! SOKATSUI!"

Seeing the close quarters attack, Kaien immediately, jumped back to give himself some room before he brought his zanpaku-to across, slashing the kido in two. He then looked over to his student and noticed just how tired she was getting from practicing all morning.

"Alright," said Kaien putting away his sword. "that's enough for today. You can take the rest of the day off."

"B-but," Rukia tired to regain control of her harsh breathing. "I can still-"

"No," said Kaien, seeing that she wasn't willingly giving up. _She's more like a Kuchiki then you'd think._ He paused. "At least sit down for a minute and take a break." Then he promptly walked over to a grassy area and sat down. Rukia reluctantly followed suit.

Kaien turned to her. "You know, you really are getting better. You've really improved over the past couple of weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if you discover your zanpaku-to's name in the near future"

Rukia sighed. "Yeah, but…"

Kaien frowned when he realized the problem. "Don't worry about your brother. You may be part of a very important family, but that doesn't mean you have to be the absolute best." His words didn't seem to be having much of an effect.

"It's not him as much as…" she trailed off. She didn't want to talk about how most of the family ignored her and when they did care to give her notice, they give her looks that clearly told her that they didn't think she was good enough.

"Don't worry about them," he tried to give her a reassuring smile, but Rukia was looking away and didn't see. "Besides, even though you're a shinigami, doesn't mean that you should let it completely consume your life. You should think about other, more important things."

Rukia turned and gave him a doubtful look. "Like what?"

Kaien put his hand over his heart and looked up to the sky dramatically. "Like love!" His usual grin was now a full out smiled that was plastered onto his face.

Rukia snorted. Kaien dropped the pose and turned to her, smile still intact. "Speaking of which, where has your strawberry been for the past few days? Usually he comes by around this time."

Rukia glared at him. "First of all, he's not _mine_. And secondly, you're lucky that he's not around to hear you call him that." She folded her arms in front of her chest. "Besides, he doesn't come around that often!"

"Oh no!" said Kaien sarcastically. "He only comes over every single day!"

"So? That's his choice, which has nothing to do with me."

Kaien rolled his eyes. As smart as she was she could really miss the obvious sometimes. "And where is he?"

"Ichigo and a couple of others from his company went on a mission in the world of the living last Saturday."

"Saturday, huh?" Kaien looking out in thought. He then turned to her with a mischievous grin on his face. "Is that why one of my subordinates has been down for the past few days?" Rukia shot him another glare, but her cheeks were lightly brushed over with red. "Is someone a little worried about their 'friend'?"

Not bothering to deny it Rukia shouted, "There is nothing wrong for being concerned about a _friend _who went on a dangerous mission!"

"So when is our dear _friend_ getting back?" said Kaien, mocking her stress on the word 'friend'.

"Today," was Rukia's immediately answer.

Kaien looked at her and even though she couldn't see it, he noticed how her eyes brightened up and a small smile snuck on to her face.

"That was a quick answer," said Kaien, his voice in every way teasing. "Does someone have a date tonight?"

"NO!!" yelled a frustrated Rukia. Kaien laughed.

"Kaien, what are you doing to Rukia-chan?" The two sitting on the ground looked up, surprised to see a visitor. A woman was approaching them. She was average height with long dark hair with her zanpaku-to casually hanging at her side.

"I'm not doing anything!" said Kaien defensively to his wife.

Miyako looked down at him accusingly, her hands on her hips. "Then why on earth does Rukia-chan look so annoyed? I don't see anyone else around." Kaien opened his mouth to speak, but Miyako turned to address Rukia. "Rukia, if my husband is bothering you, just come to me and I'll straighten him out."

"Oh come on," his voice was soft and gentle as he stood up, walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't be like that."

Miyako just stared him down, now that he was at a closer proximity. "But, I can't have you bothering Rukia-chan."

"No, it's okay Miyako-san," said Rukia not wanting to bother the woman.

"See. She's alright with it. Besides," said Kaien giving his wife an award winning smile, to convince her of his intentions. "It's for her own good."

Miyako rolled her eyes. "Really?" Kaien nodded his head enthusiastically. "And what might that be?"

"I am just trying to get her to realize her feelings for a certain boy-" Rukia opened her mouth to protest, but Miyako beat her to it.

"Who?" Miyako asked.

Kaien's grin widened as he started seeing the way to victory. "Oh, you know that boy who comes around here a lot to see Rukia. The one with the orange hair…"

Rukia tried to argue, but was cut off once again. "The one who looks a lot like you?"

"That's the one!" said Kaien. He gave Rukia a look that said 'I win' as he released his hold on Miyako.

To Rukia's dismay, Miyako's face brightened as she turned to the younger shinigami. "Oh Rukia-chan that's wonderful! You should have told me you had a boyfriend! And he's cute too!"

"Hey!" said Kaien.

Miyako looked at her husband. "What? I didn't say anything against you!"

"Humph," said Kaien, but his smile betrayed his false annoyance.

"Ugh!" said Miyako throwing her hands up in the air. "You're ridiculous!" She turned her back on her husband and turned to Rukia. "So…when do I get to met him?"

Rukia was about to protest once again for them making the wrong connections, when suddenly she froze.

Miyako looked at the girl, confused by her actions, but Kaien smiled knowingly. He had felt the spiritual pressure too. "It looks like you'll be able to meet him sooner than expected," said Kaien answering his wife's question.

Then as if on cue, Ichigo shunpoed right next to the group.

Rukia spun around to meet her friend. "Ichi-" Her words were cut off when she noticed the condition that he was in.

At first he didn't seem so bad, but on closer inspection that proved to be wrong. His uniform was worn and ripped in a lot of places. The orange head also seemed out of breath and judging from the distance that she noticed his presence, his spiritual pressure was down pretty low as well. In addition, Ichigo had several small injuries in varies places along his body, but the most critical was the long cut that ran across his chest.

"Hey Rukia!" said Ichigo as he stepped toward said girl. He didn't seem to notice how her eyes became wide at the sight of his injuries.

"Rukia?" asked Ichigo when she didn't respond to him. "Are you okay?"

"Okay?!" shouted Rukia finally blowing up. "Am _I _okay? Have you looked at yourself yet!?!"

"Wha- Rukia, I-" Ichigo tried speak, but Rukia would have none of that. On the side lines Kaien laughed at the scene before him. The two didn't seem to notice his amusement, but his wife took the liberty of slapping him across the head (though it wasn't too hard and it had to be mentioned that she had a small smile on her face as well).

"What so you think you're doing!?! You're injured, sat least SIT DOWN!" ordered Rukia. Ichigo didn't think twice and immediately sat down where he stood. He wasn't taking any chances; he knew how she could get.

Once he was safely seated Rukia marched over and knelt down in front of him. Rukia then reached forward to remove the top of his shinigami uniform so that she could heal the wound.

"Wait Rukia-" he hissed when she was finally able to touch the cut.

Rukia look up at him with a deadly look and then reach up and hit him on the head. "You idiot! How the hell did you get so beat up!?!"

"Oww…" Great now his head hurt too. "Damn it! You don't need to-"

"Be quiet!" said Rukia as she started healing his wound. Ichigo didn't talk though that might have been from the soothing effects of her healing kido.

After awhile, Ichigo noticed that Rukia was tired and that she was struggling to heal the wound, something that she should have easily been able to do. Discovering this Ichigo took Rukia's wrists and yanked them off of his chest.

Rukia looked up at him and glared, but this time Ichigo did not back down. "Stop it! You're just wasting your own strength. I'll just have someone from the fourth division take care of it later."

"I'm fine," argued Rukia reaching forward again, but Ichigo stopped her. They sat there holding each other's gaze to see as if it would decide who was right.

"You know he has a point Rukia," said Miyako breaking the silence. "You don't really have the energy to be doing any major healing." Ichigo gave her a triumphant smirk, but Miyako noticed. "And don't think that you're off the hook either, you aren't doing any better!" Ichigo's face fell again.

"I know!" said Kaien brightly. "Rukia, how about you take Strawberry up to the fourth division, yourself, that way you can ease your mind." Ichigo shot a glared at the fukutaicho.

"But, what about my training?" Rukia asked.

"Didn't I give you the rest of the day off? Besides, you obviously have other things on your mind right now." He flashed a grin, before taking his wife's hand and leading her off, ending the debate. Rukia glared at him, even though he had his back facing towards her.

Miyako turned over her shoulder as she was being pulled away and called out to Ichigo and Rukia. "You two have fun!"

* * *

"You know, you didn't have to wait for me," said Ichigo as they walked through the Seireitei. "I'm pretty sure the fourth division knows what it's doing."

"I just wanted to see how much better they are than I am seeing as you'd prefer them to heal you," replied Rukia angrily.

"What!?! That's not the reason that I went there," said Ichigo starting to get frustrated. Why was she still going on about this? "You could barely stand on your feet!"

"I am perfectly fine!" said Rukia, her voice steadily increasing.

"Like hell you- Oww!" Rukia delivered a beautiful kick straight to his already bruised shins. He faltered at the sight of the powerful woman giving him a dangerous look. "Damn…okay so maybe you're doing better than I thought." Rukia smirked at him, knowing that she had won.

"So," started Rukia as they continued walking. "What have you been working on lately?"

"Me? Well… I've been practicing with a few of the guys in our division and they've been helping me train. They keep telling me that I need to work on controlling my spiritual pressure."

"Funny how that's the same thing that I use to tell you."

"Shut up."

The two continued on talking about what they had been working on and about the people they met and worked with. After a while they finally reached the Kuchiki mansion.

As they walked up to the house, Ichigo raised his eye brows at the enormity of the place. "Wow, you live here?" Rukia nodded as they walked up to the door. "What are you suppose to do in a house this big?"

"I try to get out as much as possible and I spend a lot of time at the thirteenth company's barracks." Rukia glanced towards the house with a sigh. "Well… I guess I'd better get going." She then turned around and started reaching for the door.

"Wait! Rukia-" Ichigo reached out and grabbed Rukia's arm to spin her back around, but at the time Rukia was in mid step and unbalanced causing her body start falling forward. Luckily, Ichigo was still holding on to her and was easily able to prevent her fall by catching her in his arms.

"Ugh!" Rukia landed safely against Ichigo. And after realizing that she wasn't facing the ground, Rukia looked up towards Ichigo in question.

"Rukia…" he started again, but right as he was about to continue another voice interrupted him.

"What are you doing to my sister?" The voice was cold and demanding.

Ichigo and Rukia's heads shot up to see Byakuya standing at the door.

"I suggest that you let go of her right now." No way in hell was that a suggestion.

The two gave him a confused look, and then they looked at each other to better see their predicament. In order to prevent her fall, Ichigo had wrapped his arms protectively around Rukia's small waist, while Rukia's hands were clutching Ichigo's shirt tightly, in an effort to catch herself. Noticing this, the two instantly jumped apart, each trying to suppress the forming blush.

Byakuya turned towards Ichigo with a look that could have killed any sane person.

"Ni-sama…" said Rukia, trying to direct his attention away from Ichigo, but he ignored her.

"Get out. I never want to see you here again."

"What the hell? Rukia is my friend! Why shouldn't I be able to see her?" Rukia looked down towards her feet and bit her lip to prevent killing that idiot herself. He was just digging himself into a deeper grave.

"I said to get out, boy." Even though Byakuya Kuchiki was not one to show emotions, he was getting pretty upset at the moment.

"I have a name you know." Rukia growled, it was hard to kick someone who was standing too far away.

Byakuya's face deepened, the tone of his voice becoming dangerous. "Do you have any idea who you are talking to, boy?"

"Yeah," answered Ichigo, not backing down. "a real pain in the ass."

Byakuya's eyes went wide with anger as he brought his hand up. Rukia immediately sensed the danger and quickly rushed forward to stop her brother from killing Ichigo.

Standing in front of him, Rukia quickly tried to get her brother to stop. "Please Ni-sama! It's okay. Ichigo's a friend of mine." Byakuya turned his eyes towards the girl in front of him, though he didn't seem to be accepting what she was saying. "Please Ni-sama. I'll get him to leave and make sure he doesn't come back." Ichigo was about to protest when Rukia sent him a glare that effectively shut him up.

Byakuya's eye flicked back and forth between the two teens. When he met Rukia's eyes again, he held his gaze as if debating whether or not to believe her. After what seemed like forever, Byakuya broke eye contact and turned towards the house. "If I ever see him here again…" There really wasn't any need for him to finish the threat. As both a noble and a captain, one could only image what he had the power to do.

"Thank you Ni-sama," Rukia bowed to her brother's retreating back. "I'll escort him to the gate."

As soon as Byakuya had safely left with the door closed behind him, Rukia turned towards Ichigo with malicious intent. "YOU IDOIT!!!"

The next thing Ichigo knew was he was on the ground in a whole world of pain. But, Rukia didn't stop there, even while he was on the ground, she continued to deliver blows to his already battered body.

"Ack! Rukia stop! Oww!"

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!! HE COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!! ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID!!"

"Ouch! Damn it Rukia! What the-" Shit… she really wasn't showing him any mercy. "What about the way he was treating you?!?"

Rukia starting letting up on him. "What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? Is it illegal for you to invite a friend over? Does he let you do anything?!?" Rukia was too slow in coming up with an answer, so Ichigo just kept going. "I heard about him holding you back in the lower ranks and not allowing you to move up!"

Rukia froze. "Where did you hear that?"

"I overheard Kaien and Ukitake-taicho talking about it," said Ichigo. "Damn it Rukia, why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," said Rukia, guiltily looking down at her feet. "I guess I just didn't want to think about it and I thought that maybe if I got stronger and improved my skills…"

Ichigo looked at her and sighed. Grunting in pain he slowly started picking himself up. Rukia's head snapped up at the sound of his struggle and rushed over to help him.

"Sorry about that," said Rukia regretfully. "I guess I went a little too hard on you, huh?"

"_A little?_ I think I might need to stop back at the fourth division._"_ Rukia blushed in embarrassment.

"Here," she said reaching forward. "Let me at least try to heal…" She placed her hand in the middle of his chest. Rukia then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, allowing her spiritual pressure to flow from her body to his.

After of few minutes of healing kido, most of the damage had been undone and Ichigo stretched his arms to see how well they were working. Rukia smiled a little pleased with her work though the fact that she was the source of the problem prevented her from saying anything.

"So," said Ichigo. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"What? You're planning on coming to the thirteenth division again?"

"I figured I should stop by, seeing as I've been away for the past couple of days. If that's okay with you."

Rukia frowned at him and reached over wacked him across the head. "Do you even have a brain? Of course it's okay with me. Why would I have anything against it? Though I can't speak for the rest of the company, I don't know how much they'd appreciate some orange haired strawberry from the twelfth division walking around."

"Well, the hell with them," said Ichigo. "I fully intend on coming over."

"Alright then," said Rukia with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

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**Okay, so what did you think about this chapter? I kept playing around with it but still don't think I'm completely happy with it. It just feels kind of rushed and choppy to me, but I kind of want to get going with the next thing I have planned for the story. I also hope that for the most part everone is in character, because their are characters that aren't seen as much in the books like Kaien and Miyako, so I was unsure about how to protray them in some of the situations, but hopefully I'll get better **

**Oh! And about Ichigo being in the 12th divison, I know there were a bunch of comments about that and I will say that there is a reason that I put him there, it sets up for later and hopefully it will make sense then. **

**Sorry for any typos or spelling/grammical errors. Hopefully I got most of them, but there's always a few that manage to escape**

**A BIG THANKS to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter! You truly make my day**

**PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I would like to hear what you think about the chapter, overall story, ect. I could use the feed back.**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	14. Challenge

"Ichigo!" A voice called through the door waking Ichigo from his heavy slumber. "Ichigo, wake up! Urahara-taicho is calling for us."

Ichigo grumbled a retort into his pillow and tried to go back to sleep. "Go away Haru!"

"Come on Ichigo! Please don't get me in trouble."

"It's not like Urahara is going to yell at you."

"But he said it was an emergency!" Ichigo sat straight up. _Damn it! I had been hoping to get more sleep._ Ichigo quickly dressed and opened the door.

Haru was just about to open the door himself when Ichigo appeared.

"Let's go, Urahara wanted us there ten minutes ago." Haru immediately started heading down the hall.

"Hey Haru, wait up," said a still tried Ichigo. "We've been here for several months now, you know Urahara really doesn't really care about being on time. In fact he's the one who's usually late… What does he want us to do anyway?"

"Taicho said that he has a mission for us." Ichigo's frown deepened. They had been getting a lot of assignments lately.

"What makes this one different from any of the others that we've done in the past?" Haru shrugged. Ichigo sighed. "All right then. Let's get this done with so I can get back to sleep." Haru chuckled as Ichigo walked by him to open their captain's door.

"You wanted to see us?" said Ichigo walking in to interrupt the taicho from his work. Haru rolled his eyes. _Rukia-san is right; he really doesn't have any manners._

"Ah! Good morning Kurosaki-san! Someone's up early! What's the occasion?" Urahara teased with a huge smile on his face.

Ichigo glared. "I was told that there was an emergency."

"Emergency?" asked Urahara pretending to be clueless.

Ichigo glared at his superior.

Urahara laughed. "But, really it's just a situation that is troubling Soul Society."

"What's the problem?" said Haru from behind Ichigo.

"It's the hollows," answered the captain. "Someone is killing them, and the souls are not being cleansed and sent to Soul Society, but rather being destroyed. So, I'm sending the two of you to go check it out."

The two subordinate shinigami nodded.

"Have fun!" said Urahara cheerfully. Haru returned the positive attitude with a smile, but Ichigo just scowled. "Oh! And Haru! See what you can do to wipe that frown off Kurosaki-san's face!"

"Will do!" said Haru dragging the now angry shinigami out the door, before he could answer back.

* * *

Ichigo and Haru walked down the streets of Karakura casually looking at the restaurants and shops they passed.

"What the hell are we suppose to be doing?" Ichigo asked. "Are we just supposed to wait until that stupid pager starts beeping?"

Haru took out so called pager as if it would start going off. "I guess so. We won't be able to find out what's happening to the hollows unless one shows up."

"Yeah…"

Haru looked up towards his annoyed partner. "Why? Do you have some pressing matter to deal with when we get back?"

"No, not really." said Ichigo unconvincingly.

Haru smiled. "Or should I ask if there is a certain _someone_ you need to see?"

"Wha-" But, before Ichigo could continue the pager went off. Relieved to now have something to do, Ichigo shouted: "Finally! Where is it?"

Haru checked the device and pointed out the direction. "That way."

The pager led them down a side alleyway and upon reaching their destination they looked around for the hollow. Strangely, there wasn't a sign of a hollow anywhere.

"What the…?" Ichigo looked around searching as if one would appear from a hiding place around the corner. "Where is it!?!"

"I don't know," replied Haru, consulting the pager once again. "According to the pager it just disappeared!"

"What? How did it disappear?" shouted Ichigo as his frustration grew.

"I don't know!" said Haru helplessly.

"Augh!" said Ichigo letting out an aggravated cry.

"My, my you really should learn to control that temper of yours." A voice came from the end of the alley.

Ichigo and Haru spun around towards the source of the voice to find a man standing a few feet away from them. He was tall, yet narrow with piercing eyes behind glasses, framed by dark blue-black hair. He was also wearing strange cloths compared to those that were worn by normal humans, styling a long white jacket and pants.

"Who are you?" said Ichigo bluntly.

He ignored Ichigo and instead turned to the left as if looking at something in the distance. "There's a hollow coming."

Ichigo and Haru's eyes went wide at the mentioning of hollows. They both looked at the pager which suddenly started to beep.

The man with the glasses noticed their glance towards the gadget in Haru's hand. "You can't even sense it yourselves? And you call yourself a shinigami."

Ichigo was about to argue with the weirdo in front of them, but stopped went the strange man reached out his hand to reveal a cross bracelet hanging from his wrist. The shinigami were even more surprised went a bow and arrow made of spiritual pressure emerged from the cross. The man then proceeded to aim and fire the arrow towards its hollow mark causing the pager to stop beeping.

Then bringing the bow down to a resting position by his side, he spoke with his back turned to them. "I am Uryu Ishida, a Quincy and I hate Shinigami."

Ichigo and Haru just stood there not sure what to do. Neither of them knew what a Quincy was.

"Ichigo," said Haru to an unresponsive Ichigo. "I think I figured out what's been happening to the hollows." Even they could tell that the soul of the hollow had been destroyed.

Ichigo scowl deepened. He didn't like this guy, he was too cocky. "Who the hell are you?"

Uryu frowned. Really, how dense was this guy? "I said my name is-"

"Yeah, yeah I heard that part," interrupted Ichigo loudly. "But what gives you the right to stick your nose into our business and then go mouthing off?"

Uryu glared at the orange-haired shinigami, not liking his attitude at all. "I am a Quincy," he repeated. "I have the power to kill hollows and it seems that I am doing a much better job then you."

"Are you looking for a fight?" Ichigo could practically feel his blood boiling.

Uryu chuckled. "No, but it seems that you are." He eyed the shinigami standing in front of him. He smiled "Would you like to play a game to see who is superior- a shinigami or a Quincy?"

He could feel Haru silently protesting behind him. "You… against me?"

"Yes," replied Uryu. "But, your friend can help you out if you want."

Ichigo saw what he was getting at and turned around to face Haru. "Haru," He looked up at Ichigo. "Go back to Soul Society."

Haru's eyes opened wide. "What!?! But- Ichigo."

"Go." Ichigo ordered. "You can report to them that we discovered the _problem_." He stressed the last word and looked pointedly at the Quincy. "And you can tell them that I am taking care of it."

"B-but-"

"I said _GO."_ Seeing that Ichigo was serious, Haru quickly opened the portal and went through.

Once he was gone, Ichigo turned his attention back to Uryu. "Now…what are the rules of your game?"

Uryu smiled. It seemed that things were going his way. "Let's start with this." He held up an odd looking tablet.

"Huh?" said Ichigo. "What is that?"

"Hollow bait," said Uryu simply. "After I scatter it, hollows will begin to converge on this town. Whoever defeats the most hollows in the next few hours wins, agreed? That should be enough… even for you."

"What!?" said Ichigo disbelievingly, his eyes going wide. "What are you thinking?! Everybody in Karakura would be in danger. What kind of sicko are you?"

Uryu's face darkened as he crushed the tablet in his hands. "There is no need to worry about innocent bystanders because I am going to destroy every hollow that appears. And if you really have the guts to protect the people from the hollows then you'll accept my challenge."

Ichigo became worried as he watched the remains of the tablet drift off in the wind. He jumped when he heard a loud ripping noise. Ichigo looked up to the sky to see gaps forming in various places. In the biggest, the hand of hollow was clawing its way into the world. Fortunately, before it could fully emerge a spiritual arrow shot through it causing it to explode.

"That's one," said Uryu as he prepared to aim at another. But, before he could do anything he suddenly felt himself being grabbed and violently thrown against the wall. Uryu looked up calmly into the eyes of his opponent. "What's the matter…Ichigo, was it?"

"Call them off," growled now Ichigo regretting his decision. "Get rid of the bait!"

"That's impossible," said Uryu pulling himself out of Ichigo's grasp. "I can't recall it. The die is cast. Soon hollows will be all over this town, lured by the bait. Instead of pushing me around you should be running. It won't be easy to defend an entire town from the hollow hordes."

"Why you…" But, Uryu didn't give Ichigo a chance to finish as he turned around and ran off to find his next prey.

Ichigo looked up at the sky again. Now even more hollows were forcing their way into the world of the living. "Damn it," said Ichigo as he pulled out his zanpaku-to.

* * *

"Hey Rukia!"

"Kaien-dono!" said Rukia seeing the fukutaicho walking off in the opposite direction. "Don't we have training today?"

Kaien flashed a smile. "I thought I give you the day off."

Rukia gave him a confused look. "Why?"

"Well…you've been doing really well lately so I thought you deserved a break."

"Huh? But, I'm so close to getting shikai. Why stop now?"

Kaien sighed. There was no getting around it. "Okay, okay, the truth is that Miyako is forcing me to go shopping with her today in Rukongai." The usually cheery man was looking depressed at the thought of going thru shop after shop and having to carry all of those bags.

Rukia laughed she could almost see his thoughts. "Good luck."

"Thanks, I'm going to need it." Rukia looked at him. It really was strange, now that Kaien wasn't smiling, he reminded her even more of Ichigo.

Kaien looked up to see the look on Rukia's face. Then forming a sly smile on his face he asked, "Sooo, what are you going to do on your day off? Going to use the time to visit a certain special someone?"

Rukia blushed. She knew exactly where he was going with this, but the thing that really got to her was, that was what she had planned to do. "He is just a _friend_."

Kaien laughed at her embarrassment. It looked like he really had guessed right. "Whatever you say." He waved as he turned around and left to go find his wife.

After she was sure he was gone, Rukia turned around and headed off towards the twelfth division.

* * *

As Rukia walked around the division barracks she searched for her orange-haired friend with little luck. As she passed the captain's office, she thought about asking the twelfth division taicho. A captain would know where their subordinate was, right? But then again this was Urahara they were talking about. Finally deciding that she wouldn't be able to find Ichigo without some help, she approached the office and knocked lightly on the door.

At first there was no answer and Rukia was about to turn and leave when she heard a voice from within give her permission to enter.

When she entered the room, she found that she was not the only on there. Urahara-taicho was as usual sitting at his desk, but there was someone else with their back turned to her frantically talking to the captain.

Hearing the door open the two at the desk looked up to see their guest.

"Ah! Rukia-san, it's good to see you!" said Urahara as brightly as ever.

"Hello, Urahara-taicho," Rukia greeted. "I'm sorry to interrupt."

"Oh don't worry! Haru, here was just giving me his mission report."

Rukia and Haru exchanged greetings before Haru quickly turned back to Urahara.

"You need to send someone to the world of the living to help face off that guy!" Haru was talking very fast in an effort to speed up the process.

"So Kurosaki-san is still in the world of the living with … did you say a Quincy?" Rukia perked up at Ichigo's name. It looked like she had come to the right place.

"Yes!" continued Haru. "I don't know what they were going to do, but it looked like they were going to fight or some sort of competition."

Rukia rolled her eyes. _Looks like the idiot's in trouble again. Really, how does one person get into so many fights?_

"Hmm…" Urahara looked down at his papers. "Interesting…I just received a report about a huge increase of hollow in the area…You might be right about sending someone in for back up…"

"Can I go?" asked Rukia. She could feel the excitement building up inside of her. "I've worked with Ichigo many times before in the past and I was given the day off from my duties in the thirteen company."

Urahara gave her a curious look before answering. "Alright, if you want to, I don't see any problem with that-"

"Thank you!" said Rukia. She couldn't help the big smile that appeared on her face. It had been awhile since they had worked together and it would be fun to be partnered up with him again.

"Well then we'll send you out as soon as possible." Rukia was already getting ready to leave the room, when Urahara's voice stopped her. "But first I need to tell you a few things about Quincies…"

* * *

A hollow screamed as it dissolved into the air. As soon as it was gone, Ichigo spun around letting his zanpaku-to crash through the hollow coming up behind him. They crowded around him, easily out numbering him. Bringing out his left hand he muttered a kido spell, killing two hollows.

Ichigo shifted his stance to face the hollows posing an immediate threat. They just kept coming, each one bigger than the last. For the most part they were easy, but the bigger ones took a lot more to kill.

When blocking one hollow, Ichigo failed to notice another coming from the right. Just as it was attacking, Ichigo was able to evade it enough to only receive a cut along his cheek to join the countless other gashes that he now had on his body.

Ichigo was breathing heavily, looking for some end to all of the madness that was surrounding him. He was clueless to how much time had passed, but he knew this couldn't go on forever.

Suddenly, Ichigo felt a huge increase in spiritual pressure as an abnormally big hollow charged towards him from behind. Ichigo turned around to try and defend himself, only to find that there was no need to. Confused, Ichigo wondered where the hollow had gone. It looked as if it had just disappeared or someone had-

"Hey!" said a familiar voice. "Need some help?"

Ichigo looked up as Rukia jumped down from a nearby roof. He had probably never been more thankful to see her. He could almost feel a smile tugging at his lips at the thought of fighting besides her again.

"Me? Need help? Please, I can take care of them myself," said Ichigo, cocky as ever.

Rukia gave him a disbelieving look, before marching up to him and whacking him across the head causing him to bend over in temporary pain. She then swung her zanpaku-to across the spot that Ichigo's head had once been, killing the hollow that was trying to attack him.

"You idiot! How the hell did you get in this mess?!?" yelled Rukia as she blocked another incoming hollow. "And why am I always the person who has to bail you out?!"

"Why are you yelling at me?!?" Ichigo shouted back. He sliced through the head of another attacking hollow. "It's not like I asked for your help!" Ichigo jumped out of the way of Rukia's kido spell.

"Then you should be thankful that I came without you having to ask!"

"What the- why would-" But, Ichigo was interrupted when Rukia yelled and pointed to a location about a hundred meters away.

"Look Ichigo! That boy!" Ichigo glanced over to see a large hollow hovering over the soul of a small boy. The boy looked absolutely terrified as the creature kept getting closer.

"I'll distract the hollow!" yelled Rukia quickly formulating a plan. "You perform konso on the soul! Got it?" Ichigo was about to argue that he would be the one to hold back the hollow, but Rukia had already jumped into action.

Rukia blocked the hollow's incoming arm, while Ichigo snuck behind her to reach the boy.

Not having any time to explain anything to the confused and scared soul, Ichigo quickly touched the hilt of his zanpaku-to to the small boy's forehead, sending him to the safety of Soul Society.

Just as he was about to turn back to the mass of hollows he heard a cry of pain come from Rukia. Ichigo turned around and was frozen with shock. Rukia had been so focused on protecting Ichigo and the boy from the huge hollow that she had forgotten about the others, allowing one able to slip passed her defenses and stab her straight through the chest.

Rukia's whole body felt like it was on fire as the pain swept through her. She couldn't feel anything, only pain. Her vision went blurry as the only remaining color was the red of her own blood. She tried to move the arm that held her sword, but she couldn't. Actually she didn't even know if she was still holding on to it. She desperately tried to breath, but the claw had pierced her lungs.

Suddenly, Rukia's body jerked as the hollow's arm was removed. As soon as it was gone, she felt the blood rush from her body, taking her life with it. The world started slipping away from her as she lost the ability to detect her surroundings.

"NO! RUKIA!!"

And as her world slipped into darkness the last thing she heard was Ichigo calling her name.

**********************************************************************************************************

**Sorry for not updating for a while! You wouldn't believe the amount of work I've had!**

**But anyway...I hope you liked this chapter, I actually changed it a couple of times because I wasn't happy with how it had turned out in my first drafts, but hopefully it turned out okay in the end. **

**Parts of this chapter may have seemed rushed, but there are certain parts which you guys already know about from the books that I'm not going to really focus on. **

**Note: Haru. Kind of random OC that came up with on the spot. Was he necessary? I don't know, but he kind of fit. Don't know how much he's actually going to show up, this chapter is mostly likely one of the few he will be in, but you never know maybe he'll show up later:) **

**Sorry of errors of any kind! I really wanted to get the chapter out and might have glanced over a few things while editing.**

**PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! BIGGEST THANKS to all who reviewed the last chapter, you made me feel guilty for not updating sooner!**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	15. Snow in a Falling World

The first thing Rukia felt was cold. She shivered slightly only to realize that she also felt wet. Her body cried out in protest as she tried to move. She could feel a distant pain plaguing her body.

The first thing Rukia saw upon opening her eyes was white. Her initial reaction was to panic in fear that she had lost her sight, but soon vague images started forming until she was able to identify the blurry objects.

Taking in her surroundings Rukia discovered herself in a very unusual place. She was currently sitting on what appeared to be a huge snow covered lake- explaining why she felt chilly. But, it was strange because all though it was cold, it was not completely discomforting. Around the frozen lake was a forest covered in snow, dark and silent.

Then out of the shadows of the woods a figure emerged. Rukia squinted, trying to make out whether or not she should try to run. As the figure got closer, she noticed that it was a woman that was approaching her. She was of medium height wearing long white robes. Her hair was a long midnight black that twirled in the wind. The woman then stepped onto lake, now only a few feet from Rukia. Upon getting closer, Rukia also noticed her sharp piercing blue eyes that seemed to look through her very soul.

She was now standing right next to Rukia, towering over her sitting form. The wind whistled as they stared at each other in silence until Rukia finally spoke.

"Who are you?"

* * *

At first Ichigo was in shock which quickly turned into anger. He could feel his heart beating fast as his spiritual pressure suddenly increased. The hollow, noticing this new threat stepped back causing its claw to be pulled from Rukia's body.

"NO! RUKIA!" yelled Ichigo as he rushed forward to catch her just in time. As he lowered her to the ground he looked at her face to see that she was desperately trying to breath. Then working as quickly as possible, he began to pour massive amounts of his own spiritual pressure into her body. The wound slowly and grudgingly began to heal, but Rukia still remained unconscious.

In the mean time it looked like the hollows were starting to inch back to towards the shinigami. Looking up, Ichigo noticed the approaching hollows, after making sure Rukia was breathing, he gently laid her down on the ground before standing up.

Pulling out his zanpaku-to, Ichigo glared at the hollows, his eyes showing only revenge. His fiery gaze landed on the hollow that had hurt Rukia and he immediately sprung forward to attack. The hollow didn't stand a chance against his enraged attacker as it quickly met its end.

Ichigo then spun around towards the other hollows daring them to attack. He charged forward swinging his blade with little thought as he cut down hollow after hollow. Unfortunately, he started finding it harder to draw out his spiritual pressure and found himself slowing down.

Ichigo cursed as he pulled back towards Rukia in order to better protect her. As he did this the hollows, finding their advantage in numbers, kept moving forward as even more of them joined the fight.

With the hollows getting closer, Ichigo glanced back toward the fallen shinigami and started pondering some sort of escape. He really didn't have a choice seeing that there was no way that he could defeat this endless amount of hollows by himself especially while he was still worried about Rukia.

Standing his ground, Ichigo held out his zanpaku-to to cut down the closest hollows. He took another step back, trying to figure out what he should do next.

* * *

"Who are you?" Rukia asked. "And where am I?"

"Who am I?" The woman's voice floated in the wind like snow. "You of all people know me best and yet, you do not know my name?"

Rukia sighed in frustration. This was going nowhere. "Look, I don't have time for this, so would you-"

"You're right, there is no time at all…" said the woman, confusing her even more.

"Look, I-" started Rukia.

"Quiet," ordered the mysterious person. "We don't have any time. Stand up."

"Wha-"

"Stand up!" Rukia stood up uneasily, balancing herself on the ice.

"Why-"

"Do you see that light?" She really must have liked interrupting people, but Rukia did as she was told and looked. She nodded seeing the white light resting in the middle of the lake. "Good. Now go to it." Rukia looked up at the woman, confused. "GO!" she yelled.

Just as Rukia began to make her way across the ice an eerie wind whistled across the lake. Then all of a sudden a loud crash came from deep inside the forest giving Rukia a scared feeling in the pit of her stomach. Following the sound, the large trees that made up forest started falling down with a sound that could only signify that it wasn't good. Sensing danger, Rukia tried walking faster, shuffling her feet along the unstable ice.

Just then, it started to hail, hard, effecting Rukia's vision. From what she could see she was a about half way to…- well wherever that weird lady thought she should go. Thinking of which, she looked up to see the woman standing not too far in front of herself standing in a position that that looked like she was guiding Rukia.

She turned back to glance at Rukia. "Hurry! We need to go! This place is falling apart!"

She was in a dream, Rukia decided-or perhaps it was more like a nightmare. She hoped she would wake up soon, because this it was getting really bad. She was now about a hundred feet away from the light, which she was still clueless as to what it was and why it was so important.

Just then, a giant BOOM echoed the surrounding area. The ice beneath her feet shook violently, causing Rukia to fall. A big, echoing and eerie cracking sound could be heard from her left and when she turned to look, Rukia saw cracks starting to form within the ice, which began spreading rapidly across the lake. Then as one piece broke off, water splashed between the giant pieces of ice.

Now Rukia was worried, dream or not she had to get out of here. Picking herself up she turned in the direction that she came from, but a hand grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

"No!" shouted the woman trying to be heard over the wind. "Keep heading towards the center! That is the only way you will be able to stop this!"

"I don't want to stop it!" Rukia yelled back. "I just want to get out of here!"

"Then do what I tell you and keep going!"

Rukia growled; it didn't look like she had a choice. The cracks of ice were now surrounding them and the only way left to go was towards the spot she had been ordered to go.

Upon reaching the center -running from the breaking ice at her heels- Rukia gazed into the light to see what was so important about it. Looking down, she saw that the light was coming from a white sword that was frozen in the ice.

Coming up behind her, the woman spoke in her ear to be heard. "Pull it out."

Rukia turned up to the woman to question her command, but by the look in her face she decided not to waste time, but to just do as she was told.

Reaching forward, Rukia grabbed the freezing hilt and tried pulling. It wouldn't budge.

"What is you reason for fighting?" asked the woman. "Why must you carry a blade?"

"Wha-" Rukia was lost now. What did any of this have to do with anything?

"What do you fight for?!?" She sounded both panicked and worried.

Rukia felt the ice under her feet starting to break. She gripped the sword harder in order to retain balance.

"You need to hurry! This world is falling apart! You need to pull me out!"

_Me?_ Thought Rukia. Why- Then it clicked. She looked back up towards the woman with her new realization. Seeing this, the woman smiled down at the girl, before questioning her again.

"Why do you need to fight?"

Strengthening the grip on her sword, Rukia answered. "To protect them!"

"Who?"

"My friends-" Rukia was suddenly cut off when her right foot fell through the ice. She shivered when the freezing water touched her skin, but kept a tight grip on the blade.

Teeth clattering and body shivering Rukia continued. "All of them! They're like my family!" With a crash her other foot fell through the ice, the water traveling up to her knees. With as much strength as she could muster she pulled herself out of the water. She lost the feeling in her legs.

She tried going on. "N-ni-sama a-and R-R-Renji too! A-and….and EVERYONE!" She felt the ice cracking beneath her knees. Her tears froze as soon as they left her eyes. "I NEED TO PROTECT EVERYONE!" Breathing was becoming harder as the hail pelted her shivering skin.

"PLEASE!" Rukia screamed, giving the white sword another pull. "I NEED TO PROTECT THEM!! I HAVE TO PROTECT ICHIGO!!"

The ice below her shattered and Rukia fell into the deep, freezing waters. Everything went black as she lost all of the feeling in her body, though she kept a firm grip on the blade that was still in her hand. Rukia barely realized that the sword had come out.

Suddenly, she heard a voice whispering in her ear. "Now what is it? What is my name?"

Rukia didn't answer, she didn't think she could.

"Look into yourself and find my name!"

* * *

Ichigo backed up, standing right next to his fallen friend, trying to cut down as many hollows as possible, trying to find some way to escape. Ichigo was furious. Not only was he angry at these hollows and that four-eye creep, but at himself. He hated this weakness and inability to save his closest friend, not to mention the entire town that was now in danger.

Just as Ichigo was about to pick up Rukia and try to escape, spiritual pressure started coming from the fallen shinigami. Ichigo looked down at the girl whose unhealed wounds were now closing. She took a deep breath in as her slackened grip tightened around her sword.

Rukia's eyes flashed open and her spiritual pressure increasing even more, especially around her zanpaku-to. Moving her body, she tried standing, while Ichigo just stood there in confusion and amazement.

Finally standing up, Rukia turned to Ichigo and flashed him a confidant smile as she turned to face the hollows. Ichigo stared at her, wanting to yell at her, wanting to understand just what the hell was going on, but something made him hold back. They weren't out of danger yet.

Smirking at the hollows, Rukia lifted her sword directly in front of her, blade horizontal to the ground.

"Dance…" Rukia said as she swung the sword in a circular motion so that her zanpaku-to pointed towards the ground. "SODE NO SHIRAYUKI!"

Ichigo watched in utter amazement as the hilt of her sword changed and a white ribbon erupted from the end. The blade also shortened as the entire sword became white.

The hollows in the front suddenly found themselves fatally cut as Rukia expertly swung her zanpaku-to across. Then using her newly powered speed, Rukia stepped in between the hollows and swung her blade across, strangely missing all of the hollows.

"First Dance," she said. "Tsukishiro!" As soon as she spoke a large white circle appeared on the ground underneath Rukia and the hollows. The hollows soon found themselves frozen to the ground as ice appeared from the bright circle and started climbing up the beasts. They screamed in pain as their bodies froze where they stood.

Ichigo looked on as Rukia stepped out of the circle, just as a huge column of ice shot up into the sky destroying all of the hollows who had been unfortunate enough to be inside.

Rukia turned to Ichigo, their eyes meeting. Rukia immediately saw the pain that was written in those deep amber orbs and immediately felt guilty. But, before she could do anything she felt her body shake, her zanpaku-to becoming dormant once again.

Rushing forward, Ichigo caught Rukia as she fell. Then holding her in his arms, he looked down at her and scanned her body for any injuries.

"Ichigo…" Her voice was weak, almost a whisper. "I'm sorry I-"

But, she was unable to finish when Ichigo suddenly pulled her into a tight huge and whispered into her ear. "Rukia…please, please…"

Figuring out what he was trying to say, Rukia returned the comforting huge and responded. "I'm sorry. I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again…"

Relieved for now, Ichigo laid her down on the ground being careful not to hurt her.

"So, it seems you were able to take down some of the hollows," A voice came from not too far away. "I guess you're not completely useless."

Remembering his anger, Ichigo spun around to see Uryu standing a couple hundred feet away. He stood up, murder written in his eyes.

Uryu seemed to be unaware of the hate being directed towards him, as he continued speaking. "Oh, and just to let you know, I took care of all of the hollows on the other side of town."

Ichigo started walking forward, gaining power as his anger built up again. He didn't notice that Uryu had been greatly weakened and seemed to be running low on spiritual pressure.

Uryu finally noticed Ichigo's increasing anger. He pulled out his bow and aimed it at the approaching shinigami. "Since most of the hollows are finished, it looks like I have time to defeat you too." At these words, Uryu released his arrow.

Ichigo, not missing a beat, cut down the arrow and continued towards the Quincy.

Ichida's eyes went wide with surprise. _Where is he getting this strength? I could have sworn it had been much lower only a moment ago!_

Ichigo smirked at Uryu. "You know what…I think you're right. Why don't we stop talking about who can kill the most hollows and face each other now!?"

A little unnerved, Uryu started to speak, but was interrupted by a giant crack that echoed through the town.

Looking up at the sky, the saw a huge crack forming and ripping the sky. The remaining hollows then strangely started moving towards the crack, gathering around it.

Feeling a growing threat, Uryu, took out his bow and arrow and began to rapidly fire at the hollows. Ichigo was about to follow Uryu- who had run off to get the rest of the hollows- but was stopped by Rukia.

"Wait Ichigo!" called Rukia. Hearing her voice, Ichigo immediately rushed to her side. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" said Ichigo.

"It's something that Urahara told me before I left…"

* * *

"Uryu!" Said person turned away from the hollows to see Ichigo running up towards him, seeming a lot less angry. "Hey Uryu! I know your story now-"

Recognizing what he was talking about, Uryu interrupted. "That's ancient history. I don't care what happened to the Quincies two hundred years ago. That isn't the reason why I fight." He fired another arrow at an approaching hollow. "When I heard the story about the fall of the Quincies I actually thought the Shinigami were right." He paused as if remembering something. "I became angry when my master died right before my eyes." Ichigo was quiet; he didn't know what to say. "If the Soul Society had only accepted the strength of the Quincies, then my master wouldn't have died, which is why I must show you our true strength."

"You-" Ichigo started, but as interrupted by a scream coming from the sky. The two turned to see a huge hand reach out of the hole in the sky followed by a haunting face with a long nose. Both of them stared up in shock as the huge hollow started entering the world of the living.

"Whoa…" said Ichigo. "What is that? Is it even a hollow?"

"T-that's a Menos Grande!" Rukia came up from behind them. They turned to see her staring up at it with huge eyes. "It is way beyond anything that any of us would be able to deal with."

Just then, the Menos started taking in and eating the surrounding hollows as it fully emerged from the rip in the sky.

"Shit," said Ichigo as the giant hollow started destroy everything around it. "We're going to have to do something about this." He turned to the Quincy. "We're going to have to work together." Uryu was quiet.

"Are you insane?! Did you not hear what I just said?!" yelled Rukia.

But, before Rukia could continue, the spiritual pressure in the area spiked as the Menos Grande started collecting energy at its mouth. All three of them stared at it, quickly trying to figure out what to do. Then, the hollow released its blast, aimed directly at the unaware town.

It was Ichigo was the only one to react as he charged forward to block the attack with his blade. Rukia felt her heart skip a beat when Ichigo rushed forward, and continued to beat rapidly.

Uryu watched in amazement as Ichigo held the blast with his sword. _How is he able to do that? Especially after already having fought a bunch of hollows! _There was a strange sound in the air as an abnormally high level of spiritual pressure started coming from Ichigo.

Ichigo then built up his spiritual pressure and started pushing against the power that was trying to get past him. With a loud yell, Ichigo deflected the attack and sent his own power at the hollow.

Ichigo's attack cut the Menos from head to toe, causing the creature to cry out in pain. Wounded the Menos shrank back towards the crack in the sky and pulled back out of the world of the living. Uryu and Rukia gasped at the fact that Ichigo had been able to wound the giant hollow.

With the Menos gone, Ichigo let out a breath of exhaustion, letting his zanpaku-to fall to his side.

Uryu stared at the shinigami who had just done the unthinkable.

_We're going to have to work together._

The words echoed through his head. Him…work with a shinigami? He glanced over at Ichigo who was currently getting beat up by Rukia for his stupidity.

A small smile was threatening his lips. _Well…I guess it's something to think about._

* * *

"Sode no Shirayuki?"

Rukia nodded. They were getting ready to leave, standing in front of the portal back to Soul Society.

"Wow," said Ichigo. "I can't believe you released your zanpaku-to."

"It wasn't easy," said Rukia as she remembered what she had to go through.

"Yeah, but still…" then he realized something. "Damn it! Now I have to catch up to you!"

Rukia smiled. "You had better catch up then Strawberry, before I get to far ahead!"

"Not a problem," said Ichigo. "I'll get it soon." Her thoughts wandered to what had happened with the Menos Grande and she wondered just how powerful Ichigo's released zanpaku-to would be.

"We'll see," replied Rukia.

"Then I'll start training as soon as I get back!" said the determined Ichigo.

Rukia's smile dropped. "No you will not! When we get back, you're going straight to the fourth division."

"Yeah, yeah," said Ichigo. "You need to go there too."

"No I don't," Rukia retorted. "I'm fine. All I need is some rest."

"Then you can rest in the fourth division," said Ichigo, pulling her towards the gate.

"Alright, I'm coming," said Rukia trying to pull away from him. "You don't have to drag me."

Ichigo looked down at her and noticed that she still looked exhausted after today and was moving slowly. "Okay, then," said Ichigo with a mischievous smirk. "I won't pull you."

Then in one motion he bent down and slung Rukia over his shoulder, before turning around heading back to Soul Society.

"What the-?" At first, Rukia didn't realize what was going on. "Ichigo! Put me down!"

He didn't answer, and instead just kept walking.

"Damn it Ichigo! Put me down!!!"

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**I hope you liked the chapter**

**PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Sorry for any errors! I went through this faster than I should have. I wanted to get it out soon because I felt I owed you guys a chapter after not updating for a whil before the ch. 14.**

**~StrawberryShinigami**


	16. A Moment in Time

Rukia walked into her room tired from a long day. She had been training all day with her released zanpaku-to. Rukia flopped down on the bed. Her eyes fluttered shut as images from the previous day flooded her mind.

The shinigami smiled and a jittery feeling flew threw her as she recalled her meeting with Sode no Shirayuki and her first look at her inner world. True, her first experience wasn't the most calming of times, but today she had been able to return to that world and see the snowy forest and breath in the cold and crisp air.

Rukia sighed happily into her mattress. She couldn't wait to go back and visit again and learn the secrets of her sword.

Suddenly a loud thump came from behind her causing Rukia to jump up on to her feet.

"Rukia." A voice came from behind her and surprised her.

"Ah-" Rukia was about to scream in surprise when a hand reached from behind her and covered her mouth.

"What the hell Rukia? Do you want me to get caught?"

Rukia turned around to see her orange haired friend standing behind her.

"Oh. It's you," said Rukia upon realization.

Ichigo smirked. "Did I just scare the great Rukia Kuchiki?"

"No."

"I don't know…you looked pretty scared to me."

"I wasn't scared," said Rukia stubbornly. "I was just surprised. I didn't know- Wait a minute…How come I can't feel your spiritual pressure?"

"Why? Should you?"

"Well… usually I can always feel it, but for some reason I can't right now." her face deepened as she thought.

"Maybe it's just that I can control spiritual pressure now." Rukia gave him a disbelieving look as took a sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Okay, so maybe I still suck in that category but here is the reason." Ichigo held up his right hand where Rukia saw a silver bracelet wrapped around his wrist.

"Urahara's been experimenting with objects that hide spiritual pressure for the past hundred years or so and he asked me if I could test it out. It came in handy when I was trying to get past the guards."

"Wait- I thought that Urahara had been banned from experimenting?" said a confused Rukia.

Ichigo shrugged. "Yeah I thought so too. But I think he still tries to work when no one is looking. I don't know- he just gave this thing to me. I just wanted to be able to get past Byakuya unnoticed."

"Oh," was Rukia's answer. She paused. "How did you know where to find me?"

"Easy," said Ichigo. "All I had to do was follow your spiritual pressure."

"I thought you were bad at detecting spiritual pressure," said Rukia with a frown.

"Yeah," said Ichigo. His voice became softer. "But it's actually very easy for me to find your spiritual pressure. I could find you anywhere."

"Oh," replied Rukia not knowing how to respond. She frowned. "Uh- Was there a particular reason that you snuck in here?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah that's right," said Ichigo suddenly remembering his real reason for coming to her room. "I was supposed to bring you to the thirteenth division."

"At eight o'clock at night?" asked Rukia as worry started building in her chest. "Is something wrong?"

"Wrong? No, everything's fine." Ichigo contained his usual serious face but Rukia saw the amusement in his eyes. "They're actually throwing a party."

Rukia gave him a confused look. "Party? For who?"

"Who do you think? The party's for you."

Rukia stared at him blankly. "What? Why?"

"Kaien thought that you deserved a congratulatory party for releasing your zanpaku-to after only six months of being in the division." Ichigo seemed to have a disappointed look on his face.

Rukia noticed the look on his face. She laughed. "Don't worry Strawberry; I'm sure you'll release your sword soon."

"Yeah, I guess," said Ichigo with a sigh as he stood up. "We should get going or we're going to be late."

"Late? When are we supposed to be there?"

"Uhh…" Ichigo looked toward the clock. "Ten minutes ago."

"What?!"

"Don't worry," said Ichigo interrupting her before she went off on some tangent. He really wanted to avoid getting kicked in the shins. "I can get us there fast."

"How?" asked Rukia.

"Here," Ichigo crouched down in front of her. "Hop on my back."

"What?"

"Come on. It's not like I'm going to drop you. You know I can go faster than you."

Rukia sighed. "Alright…" She then walked up to him and slid her arms around his shoulders as her knees clung to on his sides. She shifted getting comfortable.

Ichigo then stood up and walked to the window. "Wow," he said as got ready to jump from the window. "You're really light. It must be because you're so sh-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Rukia whispered dangerously in his ear. A shiver ran down Ichigo's spine and he couldn't tell whether it was because he was afraid of what she would do to him or it was from the feeling of her warm breath on the side of his face.

* * *

Upon entering the party they were immediately greeted by the mastermind behind everything.

"Our guest of honor! You finally made it!" Her lieutenant came up to the two new arrivals. "We were wondering what was taking so long." He flashed them a knowing smile. "I just figured you two were having a little make out session before coming here."

Ichigo and Rukia's eyes went wide at his suggestion and were about to protest when Miyako came up behind her husband and wacked him upside the head.

"Dear, this is Rukia's party. Can't you give them a break for just one night?" Miyako gave him a pointed look.

Kaien pouted. "Come on!" Miyako stared him down. "Alright…" Kaien sighed as Miyako turned him around and lead him away.

"Come on. You said you were going to dance with me anyway." Before they disappeared among the crowd Miyako turned to look over her shoulder. "Congratulations Rukia!"

"Uhh…" said Rukia not knowing how to fill they awkward silence between them as the Shiba's left.

"ICHIGOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Keigo met Ichigo's fist landing on the ground with a loud crash.

"Hello Ichigo. Rukia."

The two looked up to see Mizuiro coming towards them; much calmer in comparison with his eccentric friend.

"Hey Mizuiro!" greeted Ichigo. "How's everything?"

The boy shrugged. "Oh, you know. The same as usually." He turned towards Rukia. "Congratulations Rukia. I heard that you reached some new level of power?"

"Oh! Yes, thank you!" replied Rukia.

"CONGRADULATIONS!!" Keigo suddenly jumped up from his position on the floor and turned his attention to Rukia. "MY BEAUTIFUL GODDESS-"

He was cut off when his face was once again introduced to Ichigo's fist preventing Keigo from jumping at Rukia. Unfortunately for them, he did not stay on the ground to long.

"Ichigo, why do you stop me from trying to win the affections of my dear lady?" Fake, exaggerated tears started pouring down his checks.

"Stop before you find yourself on the floor again," growled Ichigo. For some reason he really didn't like the idea of anyone trying to touch Rukia.

"AH!" cried Keigo cowering behind Mizuiro. "What have they done with our friend?"

Mizuiro sighed. He was use to this by now. "Have you guys had anything to eat or drink yet?"

Rukia shook her head. "No. We just got here."

Keigo shot up. "I SHALL GET YOU A DRINK MY LOVE!!" And with that he rushed over towards the other end of the room, pushing himself through the crowd.

Ichigo let out a deep sigh. "I'd better go make sure he doesn't get himself hurt for annoying anyone. I'll be right back."

"Okay," replied Rukia watching disappear through the crowd of people.

Mizuiro cleared his throat. "Umm…I'm sorry Rukia, but I just spotted one of my girlfriends. If you'll excuse me?"

"Oh. Alright. See ya!" replied Rukia as he waved and made his way towards the dance floor.

"RUKIA!!!!"

Said person spun around just in time to have Momo collide into her with a big hug.

"RUKIA! CONGRADULATIONS! I SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!" Momo yelled as she squeezed the raven head in her hug.

"Momo, you're squishing her," came a cool voice from behind her. Momo immediately let go giving Rukia an apologetic look.

Momo then turned around to her white haired companion. "Rukia this is Toushiro Hitsugaya. Shiro this is Rukia Kuchiki. Shiro and I grew up together."

"That's Hitsugaya_-taicho_," growled Hitsugaya. Momo didn't seem to hear his comment.

"So Momo, how have you been?" asked Rukia.

Momo's face broke out into an even bigger smile. "Great! I've actually learned how to release my sword too! Aizen-taicho said that it won't be long until I move up in rank."

"That's wonderful Momo!" exclaimed Rukia, happy for her friend.

"Thanks," replied the other girl.

"Uh, Momo…" said Hitsugaya.

"Oh! Sorry Rukia but there are still some people that I wanted to introduce to Shiro to and he's not much of a party person."

Rukia smiled at her cheery friend. "Okay then, I'll see you later!"

"See ya!" shouted Momo as she pulled the reluctant Hitsugaya behind her.

After they had gone Rukia stood there while people from the company came to congratulate her. She wondered what was taking Ichigo so long.

"Rukia?" At the sound of her name, she turned around to see Renji standing there.

* * *

Orihime couldn't contain her excitement. She was had been looking forward to the party all day. Her reason? Parties usually meant dancing and Ichigo would definitely be attending so there was a chance that she would be able to dance from him. She was so excited that she had arrived extra early. Unfortunately, Ichigo had not been there as he had been the one assigned to get Rukia so she had to wait.

When they had finally arrived, Orihime's eyes immediately went to her crush and she kept close to them looking for the right moment to approach him. A first he had stayed with Rukia and Orihime tried to get Rukia's attention and see if her friend would help her out, but Rukia didn't notice her.

Her chance finally came when Ichigo left the group to follow Keigo towards the drinks. As Keigo started getting the drinks- most of them alcoholic- Orihime noticed Ichigo just rolling his eyes as he watched his friend.

Seeing this at the best moment, Orihime walked towards the table the two at the table.

"Hello Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said cheerfully.

Ichigo turned his head. "Oh. Hey Inoue. What's up?"

Orihime blushed. "Not much. I was just wondering how you're doing."

"Good," replied Ichigo continuing the flow of conversation. "How's the Kido Corps?"

"Great!" exclaimed Orihime. "You should visit some time!"

"Uhh…sure…I guess I could try…"

"Really!?!" Her heart started beating faster.

"Yeah…" Ichigo leaned back, surprised by her enthusiastic reply.

Orihime beamed, her face becoming redder as silence settled between them.

Orihime looked down at the floor and started fidgeting. She really wanted to ask him, but she was getting really nervous. "Uhh…ummm…Kurosaki-kun…?"

Ichigo turned to look back at Orihime while at the same time keeping an eye on Keigo who was getting God-knows-what.

"Yeah?"

"Umm…Would you like to dance?"

"Huh?"

"Uhh…dance…Would you like to dance with me?" Orihime felt her face becoming and even darker shade of red. She was having trouble looking at him.

"Me? Dance?" Orihime nodded her head and in doing so she caught a glimpse of his face. He looked confused. "Uhh…sorry Inoue, but I don't really dance…and…I…"

"Oh! That's okay!" said Orihime trying to change the mood. "I have to go find Tatsuki anyway!" She tried making an excuse to get out of the now awkward conversation.

"WAIT!! I'LL DANCE WITH YOU!!" Keigo had just recently turned around and noticed Orihime.

Orihime turned to the boy with a nervous smile. "Uhh…That's okay Keigo-kun, but I really should go find Tatsuki."

Turning away Orihime walked into the crowd, with Keigo following her in a trance completely forgetting his original mission. Ichigo just shrugged as the two disappeared. Keigo was an idiot for following him if it was Tatsuki they were heading towards. All Keigo would get is a black eye for his troubles.

* * *

"Hey Rukia. It's been awhile."

"Hi Renji. What brings you here?" Rukia looked up towards him debating how she should treat this conversation. She gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided to try and be friendly towards him. Who knew? Maybe they could repair their friendship.

"Well I heard that the thirteenth division was having a party for you and just stopped by." Renji studied her face. Why did she seem so distant?"

"So…How's the sixth division?"

"Good. I've been improving a lot, though your brother is not one to give much encouragement or compliments."

"Heh, heh, I know what you mean," replied Rukia. "…Then have released your zanpaku-to yet?"

"Yup!" said Renji proudly. "I discovered it about a month ago; about the same time as Momo."

"Did you discover your eyebrows then too?"

Rukia and Renji turned to see Ichigo join them handing a drink to Rukia while sipping his own.

"Eyebrows?" asked Rukia confused. Renji just glared at the new arrival. He was the last person he wanted to see right now.

Ichigo jerked his head in Renji's direction. Rukia turned back to look at her childhood friend and noticed something _very _different.

"What the-!?!?!" yelled Rukia. Instead of the normal, Renji now had these intense back tattoos as eyebrows that went all the way up to the edge of his hair line.

"What do you think?" Renji asked Rukia. He hoped she liked it, though right now she looked like she was still in shock.

"I think they look ridiculous."

Renji turned towards Ichigo and sent him- if possible- and even harder glare then before. "I wasn't asking you," said Renji through his teeth.

"I think they look cool." At first Renji in his hopeful way thought it had been Rukia who said that, but when he turned to face the voice he found that it was a completely different person.

"I didn't know you were blind Tatsuki."

"Oh shut up Ichigo." He barely knew her, but already Renji liked this girl. She like his tattoos and she had just told Ichigo to shut up all in the same fifteen seconds.

"Hey Tatsuki!" said Rukia turning to her friend.

"Hey Rukia. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

Then Tatsuki turned to the person the group that she didn't know.

"Tatsuki Arisawa."

"Renji Abarai," said Renji, introducing himself. "How do you know Rukia?"

"Actually, I met her through Ichigo. He and I grew up together. I use to kick his ass every day in Karate." Renji couldn't help but smile at that; he loved the idea of Ichigo getting beat up by this girl.

Ichigo on the other hand was not at all pleased about the information his friend was giving to his rival. _Wait a minute- since when has he been my rival? And a rival in what?_

"So you know Karate?" continued Renji.

"Hell yeah," replied Tatsuki. "Are you interested in it too?"

"Well…" said Renji. "I know a little…"

"I could show you some moves if you want," Tatsuki offered.

"What the-?" Ichigo interjected. "When the hell did you get so nice?"

Tatsuki glared at her orange haired friend. Then she looked over towards Rukia who instantly got the message.

Ichigo was about to speak up again seeing as Tatsuki didn't answer his question, but Rukia stopped that by giving him a swift kick to the shins.

"So, as I was saying," said Tatsuki turning back to Renji after giving Rukia an appreciative look that went unnoticed by the boys. "Would you like me to show you some moves?"

"When? Now?" asked Renji.

Tatsuki laughed. "Whatever works with you." She threw Rukia another meaningful look.

Getting the message Rukia turned towards Ichigo. "Come on Ichigo I need your help."

"With what?" asked Ichigo.

"I need to find Ukitake-taicho."

"Uhh…okay…"

Rukia turned to the other two. "See ya later!"

"Wait, where-?" Renji was confused. Where was she going all of a sudden? And why the hell did she have to bring _him_ with her? He didn't like how they were holding hands. Okay so holding hands probably wasn't the best terminology. It was more like Rukia was dragging him away, but still…

Once Ichigo and Rukia were a safe distance away, Rukia finally stopped.

"What's going on? I thought we had to find Ukitake-taicho?"

"I lied. I don't need to see him. I just made that up."

Ichigo gave her a strange look. "What?"

"I made it up so that we could get away and give them some time alone," answered Rukia.

Ichigo paused for a second to try and think, but he came up empty. "And why do we need to do that?" Not that he minded getting away from that tattooed pineapple head, but Rukia was acting a little odd.

"Well…" Rukia gave him close look. "You won't tell anyone else right?"

"For the love of-" Ichigo threw his and sin the air. "Okay. Rukia just tell me. And no, I won't tell anyone."

"Well…I think that they might like each other."

Ichigo gave her a skeptical look. "You're kidding right?"

"Well I'm not sure…but Tatsuki seems to like him."

"Tatsuki? Having a crush? Impossible."

Rukia gave him a look. "You know it's funny…She said something very similar about you."

"What?!"

"Anyway …back to what I was saying…Don't you think they'd make a good couple?" Rukia seemed excited to be in the middle of this and getting the chance at playing the matchmaker.

Ichigo glanced back in the direction they had come from.

"No."

"What?" said Rukia; her eyes narrowed.

"It'd never work."

"Why not?" Rukia asked. Ichigo looked down at her. She really had no idea.

_Because that asshole is in love with you, idiot._ Ichigo didn't get why this information bothered him so much. I had been really obvious to him and yet for some reason he was afraid to say it out loud. Maybe it was the thought that she might like him back… Ichigo shook his head. That was not something that should bother him and yet…

"Never mind."

"But, you said-"

"Just forget it. You're right." Rukia smirked in triumph.

"Aren't I always?" Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Oh yes, they come from far and wide to hear from the All-Knowing-Midget- Oww! Damn it! That hurt!"

Rukia crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You deserved it."

"Yeah, but my shin didn't. It's already got enough bruises."

The rest of the night went smoothly from there. More people came up to congratulate Rukia while she and Ichigo talked. And as the night wore on Ichigo did receive several new bruises.

It was getting late and they were standing there in silence taking a break from conversation just listening to the soft, light music coming from the dance floor.

As she stood there, Rukia let the music wash over her and fill her ears. It reminded her of her sword release. _Dance…_ She suddenly had the urge to move to the music. She looked and noticed Ichigo standing next to her.

"It's a nice song isn't it?" said Rukia.

"Yeah…" he answered.

Rukia glanced up at him again. "Hey Ichigo…?"

"Yeah?"

She paused. "Want to dance?"

He turned to look down at her. "Dance?"

"Uh, yeah. I haven't danced all night and it is my party…and…I…umm… I just kind of want to."

As Ichigo gazed into those violet eyes he saw…something, he didn't know how to describe it. But whatever it was it made him want to follow her. And not only that, but it made him believe there would be nothing better in the world than to be with her in this moment.

"Sure." The smile that she gave him was worth the world. It made his heart flutter.

Rukia blushed as she reached for his hand and lead him to the dance floor. When they reached the floor Rukia turned to face him and paused as if unsure about what to do next. Ichigo didn't know what possessed him, but the next thing he knew he was taking a step in to get rid of the gap between them. At the same time he lifted the hand that still held hers and wrapped the other arm around her waist. After getting comfortable he then lead her into a gentle swing in time with the music.

Since it was getting late, Orihime was heading out. She sighed at her failed attempt to dance with her crush and instead she had Keigo following her around all night. As she started walking out with these thoughts in mind she noticed a flash of orange in her peripheral vision. Orihime turned towards the dance floor, shocked to see Ichigo not only dancing, but with Rukia.

_Sorry Inoue, but I don't really dance…_

A thousand thoughts were all racing into her mind at once. She felt tears in her eyes threatening to fall at any minute. Her eyes darted from Ichigo to Rukia. He looked different- no, the both looked different, they both looked….happy.

Her bottom lip began to quiver as a single tear began its sad journey down her face. She looked away. She was confused. She didn't know what to think. The only thing she was sure of was that she wanted to get of this place as fast as possible.

Rukia looked up at him with a grateful smile. It was strange looking up into Ichigo's face when it was absent of its frown. He almost looked…calm. She peered into his amber eyes to find…happiness? It was strange being with him, like this made her feel warm inside. It made her feel like she belonged.

Taking a break from his current conversation with his new acquaintance, Renji glanced around the room to get a look at what was going on. His eyes automatically started looking for Rukia. Unfortunately, it was easier to spot you-know-who's orange hair first.

Upon noticing the orange headed strawberry on the dance floor his first thought was: Who would want to dance with him? Then looking closer at his dance partner, Renji's eyes went wide. It was Rukia. Why the hell were they dancing together? And why did they look so comfortable together?

Tatsuki looked up at Renji. He seemed to be staring in shock at something. She followed his line of sight towards the dance floor. There she noticed the two shinigami dancing together as if nobody else in the room was there. She smiled. They made a cute couple.

She glanced back up at Renji's face. Her smile immediately fell. She recognized that face she had seen it before. It was one of disappointment… and jealously. Tatsuki looked between him and the dancing couple and came up with her answer. Renji liked her. She glanced down at her feet. This why she hated this. These damned emotions. What was going on? She was certain Renji liked Rukia, but then why had Rukia helped her out? Did she not realize it? Would like him back if she knew? And where the hell was Ichigo going to come in on this? What about her? Her head was spinning.

"Uh, Renji?"

"Yeah?"

"I got to go."

"Okay." He didn't even look at her.

As the music played on, Rukia became more comfortable and found herself getting closer and closer to Ichigo. Then without thinking she let go of his hand and reached her arms around his neck. At first Ichigo seemed surprised by her actions, but he quickly responded by wrapping his other arm around her waist and pulling her in a little closer.

Rukia let out a deep sigh as she yawned and rested her head against his chest.

"Tired?" His voice was barely a whisper, like he was afraid to ruin the moment.

"Mmmm..." was his answer.

"After this song, I'll bring you back home."

"Okay," said Rukia not wanted the song to end.

Just as the song can to an end, Rukia spoke up again. "Ichigo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for dancing with me."

"Anytime."

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**Ahhh! I did it again! It took me over a month to update! Damn. I really need to work on that. So for what it's worth: SORRY!!**

**Okay...so about the chapter. What did you think? I really hope everyone's in character and there were minimal spelling/grammer mistakes. I hope the writing isn't too bad, it was really late when I wrote it!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!! They really do help me. And much thanks to all of the wonderful people who review that last chapter.**

**note: Dunno what you guys think about RenTat, but I've always thought it would be interesting if the two at least met. I dunno how far I'd actually do it if I did include it but for now in my story things won't work btw. them, not yet**

**note: there have been serveral comments on how closely I stick to the story line. I will definatley be including a lot of events from the books, but I am going to add my own twist to everything and try to keep things interesting and add more ichiruki! yay!**

**StrawberryShingami**


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